We feel like the worst parents in the world because our kids apparently don't need as much sleep as other kids.
We've tried extensive bedtime rituals, tried tiring them out by going to the forest and making em run etc, but we really can't get our 1,5 year old to need more sleep than we do.
Our 4 year old tends to sleep an hour longer in the morning, but the little one is really killing us from a freetime standpoint with his 7 hours a day of sleep he needs (5-6 at night, 30m-1h a day).
Naturally this is driving my wife and me insane.
Daycares were open, but we've decided to take our older one out to reduce his contacts and give the daycare some breathing room as they are also at their limits because they've had staff quitting because they didn't want to risk getting infected for this little money (understandable imo).
The whole situation for parents is absolutely disastrous, my wife should have been looking for a new job already, but it was simply not realistic for her to start working a new job with me retaining mine and the kids at home.
As a young family in a high cost-of-living metro-area we had to decide to move as we can't afford to live here while giving our kids the space at home they need without support that allows us to work effectively.
I’ll throw one thing out there in case you’ve not tried it: I’ve seen plenty of advice that if your kids wake up “too early”, then counterintuitively, they may be going to sleep too late. So in your case, it’s possible that if you get them to bed two hours earlier, they’ll just wake up earlier. However, getting them to bed several hours earlier might work better. Ours are almost-3 and 5 and both sleep ~12 hours, but if they go to bed late will probably wake up early and things go to pot.
That said, I’ve zero idea how to switch sleep modes, sorry.
Our lifesaver was “healthy sleep habits, happy child” by Mark Weissbluth.
Don't feel bad! Every kid is different and there is no magic trick (at least that I've found!) to get them to sleep more. Mine are 4 and 6 and I'm trying to reframe my mind to not see sleep as a battle.
What is killing me is that they won't come downstairs alone to play, though once here they can play unsupervised. I am looking forward to the days getting brighter so it isn't the dark that stops them.
Even taking out my 2h45m (total) commute time, I'm more tired than ever. I'm sure a lot of mine is due to stress and low level depression - I have a lot on now but so does pretty much every person you interact with.
Before lockdown I was starting to get some arduino and electronics projects in during my commute, but I've barely even had time to watch videos of other people's projects.
I just remind myself that in time this will change, that I'll find time again for myself. Over Christmas I've been trying to go for a walk alone each day and also to step away from my phone more. But it is hard - but that is OK.