Bedtime routine for teenagers
A 45 minute teen bedtime routine that starts at 9:15pm and ends with lights out at 10pm, built to run on reminders instead of nagging.
The routine, step by step
- 9:15pmStep 1: Homework finished and bag packed5 min
- 9:20pmStep 2: Phone on the charger, ideally outside the bedroom1 min
- 9:21pmStep 3: Shower and skincare15 min
- 9:36pmStep 4: Teeth3 min
- 9:39pmStep 5: Wind down: reading, music, journaling20 min
- 9:59pmStep 6: Lights out1 min
About 45 minutes in all, ending at 10pm (lights out) for a 7am wake-up.
🌙 Sleep: children of 13 to 17 need 8-10 hours a day. For a 7am wake-up that means asleep by about 10pm (healthy window 9pm to 11pm). Try other wake-up times in the bedtime calculator.
A bedtime routine that works for teenagers
A bedtime routine for a teenager is less about tucking anyone in and more about a short, repeatable sequence that gets the body and the bedroom ready for sleep. For ages 13 to 17, aim for 8 to 10 hours of sleep per 24 hours, the consensus from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. If your teen gets up at 7am, asleep by 10pm puts them inside a healthy 9pm to 11pm window. The routine below starts at 9:15pm and ends at 10pm, 45 minutes total.
The trick is to make the plan belong to your teen. A routine handed down like a barracks order will get ignored or followed with eye rolling. A routine your teen helped set, wrote down, and can run from their own reminders has a real chance. Keep the steps short and concrete. Keep your voice boring. The goal is not a perfect night. The goal is a predictable landing pad.
The steps, one by one
At 9:15, homework is finished and the bag is packed by the door. Five minutes. This is not study time. It is the close of the school day: laptop in the bag, charger in the bag, permission slip signed if it is already on the table. If homework is still open at 9:15, the routine starts with a decision: finish by 9:30 and shorten the wind down, or stop and deal with the rest in the morning. Decide that now, not at 10.
At 9:20, the phone goes on the charger, ideally outside the bedroom. One minute. Outside the room works better than face down on the nightstand, because the buzz and the reach are both gone. If your teen uses the phone as an alarm, a cheap alarm clock solves that. At 9:21, shower and skincare, about 15 minutes. This is the long block. Warm water, clean face, dirty clothes in the basket. Not a second homework session in the bathroom.
At 9:36, teeth, three minutes. Then wind down at 9:39, 20 minutes: reading, music at low volume, journaling, drawing. Something quiet that does not need a screen. At 9:59, lights out, one minute. That is the whole sequence: five minutes, one minute, 15 minutes, three minutes, 20 minutes, one minute. 45 minutes end to end.
How long it should take
The routine takes 45 minutes, from 9:15pm to 10pm. That is tight but not rushed. The shower is the big block. If your teen needs 25 minutes in the bathroom, start at 9:05 instead of 9:15. The clock should serve the lights out time, not the other way around.
Why 45 minutes? Because it gives enough time for the body to shift without a long, loose evening that drifts to 11. It also leaves room for one thing to go wrong: a lost charger, a sibling in the bathroom, a text argument. If the routine is 15 minutes, every small snag becomes a crisis. If it is two hours, it becomes a second job. 45 is enough.
The healthy window for a 7am wake-up is roughly 9pm to 11pm, so 10pm lights out sits comfortably inside it. A teen who genuinely cannot fall asleep until 10:30 is not necessarily being difficult. Bodies shift later in the teen years, and teens develop at different speeds. Keep the routine steady, and if sleep worries you, talk to your doctor rather than turning bedtime into a battle.
Getting them to do it on their own
Start by asking, not telling. “What time do you need to be asleep to feel human at 7am?” Then build the steps backward together. Write the plan on a card and tape it inside a closet door, or set phone alarms before the phone leaves the room at 9:20. The alarms do the reminding, not you.
Give one reminder, then step back. Try: “I am going to say this once. It is 9:20, charger time.” If the phone stays out, do not repeat yourself five times. Let the natural consequence land: the charger is in the kitchen, so the phone charges in the kitchen. Calm and boring beats a nightly lecture.
Praise what you see, specifically. “You were in the shower by 9:22” is better than “good job.” Notice the nights the routine works and say so the next morning. Keep the checklist visible, keep the steps in the same order, and let your teen cross them off or tap them away. Ownership grows from repetition, not from a speech.
If nagging has become the pattern, change one thing at a time. Move the phone charger, add a visual timer, or shift the start time earlier. Pick one, try it for a week, then talk about what worked. A routine that gets most of the steps done on a Tuesday is still a win.
When the routine falls apart
Some nights will not fit the plan. A game runs late. A project takes longer. A friend needs a conversation. On those nights, do not throw out the routine or deliver a speech about discipline. Do the short version: phone on the charger, teeth, ten minutes of quiet, lights out. The order matters more than the clock.
If the routine has slipped for a week, reset it on a Sunday. Sit down for five minutes, look at the times, and ask what kept slipping. Maybe the shower needs to move earlier. Maybe homework needs a different block. Maybe the phone needs to charge in the hallway. Change the plan, not your teen’s character.
Keep the room dark, cool, and quiet, and keep screens out of the last stretch. Those are everyday sleep habits, not magic. If your teen is regularly awake for long stretches, snores heavily, or is exhausted in the daytime, talk to your doctor. That is not a routine problem to solve by nagging.
Making it yours
Build the routine around your teen’s actual wake-up time. For a 7am wake-up, lights out at 10pm works. For a 6:15 bus, you may need 9:30. For a later start, 10:30 can still fit the 9pm to 11pm window. The clock is a tool, not a moral test.
Keep the anchors and flex the rest. The anchors are the phone away from the bed, the lights out time, and a quiet final block. The flex is the order of shower and teeth, or whether reading happens in bed or in a chair. In a two-home schedule, write the same card for both houses if you can, so the steps feel familiar wherever your teen sleeps.
Try the plan for two weeks before you judge it. Teens need repetition to build a habit, and parents need evidence before changing the plan again. Keep it simple, keep it visible, and keep your reminders to one.
TaskFamily runs this bedtime routine on your child's own screen: each step in order, a countdown timer for the ones that drag, read-aloud tasks for little ones, and points when it is done.
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Questions parents ask
What time should a 13 year old go to bed?
It depends on the wake-up time. Aim for 8 to 10 hours of sleep per 24 hours, so a teen up at 7am is usually asleep by 10pm, inside the 9pm to 11pm window. Start the routine 45 minutes before lights out.
How do I stop my teen from using their phone at night?
Charge it outside the bedroom, ideally in a kitchen or hallway, and make that part of the 9:20 step. Use a separate alarm clock so the phone is not the alarm. Set one reminder and let the charger location do the rest.
Should a teenager shower at night or in the morning?
Either can work. A night shower is built into this routine because it gives a clear 15 minute block to wash off the day and signals that bedtime is close. If mornings work better in your house, move the shower and keep the wind down time.
What if my teen is still awake at 10:30pm?
Keep the lights out and the room dark, and avoid turning it into a second screen session. A teen who is occasionally awake later is normal, especially during busy weeks. If it happens most nights and your teen is tired in the day, talk to your doctor.
More routines
Step times are typical for the age, and clock times are counted back from the end of the routine; bedtimes use the sleep ranges in our bedtime calculator (American Academy of Sleep Medicine, endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics). The guide text is drafted with AI from those numbers and checked automatically before it is published. Updated November 6, 2026.