When my daughter was a toddler, we put her to bed around 6:30 PM. Most of my friends and family thought I was pretty crazy for doing so, but she was a very early riser (no matter what time she went to sleep!), so we always thought the earlier, the better to maximize her rest. While that bedtime is long gone these days, apparently I was doing something right, according to one pediatrician.

In Dr. Rossome’s viral TikTok, he admits to putting his kids to bed “very, very early” noting that he realizes the early put-down is “controversial” but necessary.

“As a pediatrician, I put my kids to bed very, very early and many people think it’s kind of controversial. As a general rule of thumb, we try to get all of our kids, ages seven all the way to 15, starting to lay down or get ready for bed around 7:30 p.m.,” he begins. “This most often allows us to get the littles to sleep around 7:30 and get the bigger kids ready to go to sleep between 8:30 or so.”

Dr. Rossome says that, as a pediatrician, he recognizes and prioritizes sleep because he knows how important rest is for kids.

“Now, we do this because we recognize the importance of sleep. A large majority of children in the United States are not getting enough sleep. Look at current sleep guidelines endorsed by sleep specialists and the American Academy of Pediatrics. We see that, especially our late elementary and middle schoolers who are starting to go to sleep at 8 or 9 o’clock, there’s no way they’re going to get that 9, 10, 11 or even 12 hours of sleep that many of these children need.”

So, you’re probably thinking how it’s even possible for kids these days to get that kind of sleep when sports and activities go well into the evening. Dr. Rossome recognizes this and he and his family make sure that sleep comes first when they can make it come first.

“A lot of parents say, ‘Well, my sports don’t get over until 7 or 7.30. Then we have to eat dinner and homework.’ Now I fully recognize that’s a reality, and my kids participate in a lot of sports and extracurricular activities. That’s why the nights that we don’t have sports, it’s even more important for us to adhere to those strict bedtimes so the nights that do need to be more flexible because of sports or events, they can stay up a little later and not have a significant detriment to their sleep,” he says.

“Also when we’re signing up for sports, it’s really important to take into account our kids’ sleep when we sign them up so we’re not signing up for something that’s going to overall be a detriment to our children’s health. Remember when looking at these sleep numbers, that the vast majority of children are going to fall right in the middle, meaning most teenagers actually need 9 to 10 hours of sleep and not that lower 8 hours. Similarly, most of our school-aged children or elementary or middle schoolers need at least 11 to 12 hours of sleep each night in order to meet their full sleep needs.”

After his video gained traction, parents definitely had thoughts on his video and made them known.

“Thanks to corporate America if many put them down at 7:30 then I would have one hour with them a day…,” one user wrote.

Another shared, “My 14 yr old is still at baseball practice at 7:30 😂”

“Yeah, if my kid was in bed at 730, he’d be up at 530, no thanks, we’ll keep our 9pm bedtime,” one noted.

One mom actually agreed and said, “This is me, I’m a bedtime tsar. Bedtime is 7:30/8:00. Momma clocks out at 8:00, that’s my me time. I try hard not to deviate, their sleep is important.”

Another wondered, “I don’t understand why people don’t think sleep is important for kids 🤷🏽‍♀️”

One mom said, “THANK YOU!! I always feel like odd parent out bc we prioritize sleep. Kids go to bed at 7/730 and are up at 545. Children need sleep!”