A 10-year-old who wakes up at 7:00 AM should go to bed around 8:45 PM, and no later than 9:45 PM. That gives about 10 hours of sleep, inside the 9 to 12 hours the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends for children aged 6 to 12. Each bedtime on this page includes about 15 minutes to fall asleep.
Those are the same numbers the kids bedtime calculator gives for a 10-year-old. Below are the school-night times for every common wake-up, what to do on weekends and in summer, and how to work it the other way round when bedtime is already set.
Free toolSleep Needs by AgeRecommended hours for every age, from newborns to over-65s.What time should a 10-year-old go to bed on a school night?
Count back 10 hours and 15 minutes from the time your child has to get up. For a 7:00 AM wake-up that's 8:45 PM; for 6:30 AM it's 8:15 PM.
| Wake-up time | Ideal (10 h) | Latest (9 h) | Earliest (12 h) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6:00 AM | 7:45 PM | 8:45 PM | 5:45 PM |
| 6:30 AM | 8:15 PM | 9:15 PM | 6:15 PM |
| 7:00 AM | 8:45 PM | 9:45 PM | 6:45 PM |
| 7:30 AM | 9:15 PM | 10:15 PM | 7:15 PM |
The "latest" column is the last bedtime that still meets the 9-hour minimum. The "earliest" column is the 12-hour top of the range; few 10-year-olds need that much, but it shows there's no harm in an early night after a big day.
Ten hours is a starting point, not a rule. If your child is hard to wake, grumpy by late afternoon or falls asleep in the car, try 15 minutes earlier for a week. If they lie awake for half an hour most nights, they may need a little less.
How much sleep does a 10-year-old need?
A 10-year-old needs 9 to 12 hours of sleep a night. That range applies to all children aged 6 to 12, according to the AASM's pediatric guideline, which also links regular sleep of this amount to better attention, behavior, learning and mental health.
Most 10-year-olds do well on about 10 hours. Naps have usually stopped years ago, so all of it has to come at night.
What time should a 10-year-old go to bed on weekends?
Keep weekend bedtime and wake-up within about an hour of school nights. If your child wakes at 7:00 AM on weekdays, a weekend wake-up of 8:00 AM and bedtime of 9:45 PM keeps the same 10 hours without shifting their body clock much.
| Weekend wake-up | Bedtime for 10 hours |
|---|---|
| 7:30 AM | 9:15 PM |
| 8:00 AM | 9:45 PM |
| 8:30 AM | 10:15 PM |
A sleepover or late family event once in a while is fine. The trouble starts when every Friday and Saturday runs two or three hours late, because Sunday night then feels like trying to sleep in a different time zone. If that happens, get them up at the usual weekend time on Sunday, even if they went to bed late, and let an early Sunday bedtime do the catching up.
What time should a 10-year-old go to bed in summer?
In summer, a later bedtime is fine as long as wake-up moves later by the same amount and your child still gets about 10 hours. For a 9:00 AM wake-up, that means bed around 10:45 PM.
Two things make summer easier:
- Keep some anchor. Letting both times drift late is easy in June and painful in August. Two weeks before school starts, move wake-up and bedtime 15 minutes earlier every couple of days until you're back on the school schedule.
- Darken the bedroom. Long, bright evenings are one of the most common reasons kids this age can't settle in summer. Blackout curtains or blinds help a lot.
Go to bed and wake up: if bedtime is set, when will they wake?
Add 15 minutes to fall asleep plus 10 hours to the bedtime. An 8:30 PM bedtime gives a natural wake-up around 6:45 AM.
| Bedtime | 10 hours of sleep ends at |
|---|---|
| 7:30 PM | 5:45 AM |
| 8:00 PM | 6:15 AM |
| 8:30 PM | 6:45 AM |
| 9:00 PM | 7:15 AM |
| 9:30 PM | 7:45 AM |
This is useful if your child is up too early. A 10-year-old going to bed at 7:30 PM and waking at 5:45 AM may simply be getting all the sleep they need. Moving bedtime later in small steps can push the wake-up later too.
Getting a 10-year-old to bed on time
A fixed routine that ends the same way every night does more than any argument at bedtime. For a full routine by age, see bedtime routine for kids.
- Start the routine 30 minutes before bedtime: shower, pajamas, teeth, then reading in bed.
- Keep phones and tablets out of the bedroom. In a review of 20 studies of school-age children and teens, having a device in the bedroom at night, even without using it, was linked to getting too little sleep.
- Let them earn a small privilege. Fifteen minutes later than a younger sibling can keep the peace without costing much sleep.
Bedtimes for ages 6 to 9 are in what time should a 7-year-old go to bed, and ages 11 and 12 in what time should a 12-year-old go to bed.
When to talk to your pediatrician
Check with your child's pediatrician if they snore loudly most nights or have pauses or gasps in breathing while asleep, are very sleepy during the day despite enough time in bed, wake often every night, or have had trouble falling asleep for weeks.