Brayden Preteen Summary: 8.25 Years

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8.25 year old life and daily schedule. Learn about this child’s daily schedule and how to handle things that come up with eight year olds. Learn about tween sleep needs, chores for 8 year olds, and chapter books for 8 year olds.

8.25 year old Brayden batting in a baseball game

This is a summary for Brayden for the first three months of being 8 years old. That puts him in Preteen territory!

EATING

Eating is great. Brayden is very adventurous and willing to try anything. He doesn’t like everything, and that is okay with me. I am just glad he tries it.

SLEEPING

Overall, sleeping has been great. This summary covers him for the summer months, so we were pretty lazy about getting up in the morning and he would often sleep in until 8 AM–which isn’t necessarily terribly late, but in the world of Brayden, it definitely is. 

Brayden had one night where he could not sleep. It was so bizarre. He hasn’t had a night like that since he was still a newborn! He came out around 10 PM and said he couldn’t sleep and he was very worried (pretty well convinced) that he wouldn’t fall asleep all night since he was already up so late.

We didn’t even have anything exciting going on the next morning and hadn’t had an evening that was out of the ordinary. We told him to try to sleep. We told him he could read for a while to get sleepy. We put doTerra essential oils on his feet (the sleep blend Serenity). He prayed.

Nothing.

At midnight, he came out again all worried. We were staying awake to make sure he made it asleep okay. We told him he could sit out on the couches with us and we would watch TV. Nope. Didn’t make him tired.

I dozed off and woke up at 2 AM to find he was still awake (ack!). I told him he had to go to bed and we had to go to bed because we still had to function the next day. So we all went to bed and he fell asleep.

He hasn’t had a night like that since. I have no idea what got that rolling. It was so odd and completely out of the ordinary. I actually haven’t had any child unable to sleep like that since he was a newborn–none of his sisters had nights like that as newborns.

Brayden still reads in bed for about ten minutes before he has to go to sleep. He really enjoys that. 

>>>Read: Sleep Tips and Needs for Teens and Tweens

EXTRA ACTIVITIES

During the last three months, Brayden played baseball. We had no piano lessons; we took the summer off. We did have some swimming lessons throughout the summer. Brayden is apparently a very natural swimmer (I don’t really know because I can’t swim–sad but true!). He is doing very well in swimming lessons and working toward possibly joining the high school’s junior swim team. 

CHORES

During the summer, I really focused on teaching Brayden to do more chores. It was great! I have decided that when you have a child in school, during the summer is a great time to teach the new chore skills you want your child to have. There is a lot of time to teach and practice without being as crunched for time. He is quite proficient at the new skills and will be able to do them independently from here on out.

>>>Read: Age-Appropriate 8 Year Old Chores

BAPTIZED

I shared months ago during the summer when Brayden got baptized. In our church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), you get baptized at 8 or older. 

FASTING

Another thing that comes with being baptized is fasting. In our church, we fast for two meals (or 24 hours) every month. So we eat dinner on Saturday, then abstain from food and water until dinner on Sunday. 

I didn’t know how to introduce Brayden to fasting, so I consulted a family I really respect who has older children at my church. They also have a daughter Brayden’s age. They start by having the child fast for Breakfast on Sunday, then can eat lunch. They do this until age 12 when they move to a full fast. 

Being a human and a boy, Brayden was not excited about fasting. But we fast with a purpose–we pray for something we need special help with or for someone we know needs special help. He fasted with a purpose for his first fast and noticed a difference in his life from it, and that helps give him purpose and strength each month. 

TEETH INSECURITY

Brayden is at the age where he has obviously lost a lot of teeth. He is getting his adult teeth in, and he is not liking what he is seeing. I feel bad for him–I think it is fairly common. They get teeth in that are too big for their mouths. They often come in crooked initially (I have noticed his teeth so far have straightened out a lot after initially coming in–I don’t know how things will be in the end). 

I think tied to this is he doesn’t like his picture taken anymore. It is like torturing him to take his picture. I still do it…I am a picture junkie…

This is a moment when it is hard to know what to say and you wish you were a wiser person. I had braces as a kid and I told him that and assured him it would be okay if he needed some, too. It is interesting because he isn’t alone–every other kid his age is losing teeth and growing giant ones in, too. And I don’t think I ever expected to have a boy feeling insecure about the way he looks. 

BOY SCOUT

Now that Brayden is 8, he has started Boy Scouts! My husband took him to a day camp. He loved it. He loved doing all of the things boy scouts do.

SUPER HELPFUL

It is amazing how helpful an 8 year old can be. He can completely feed his sisters lunch. He is a great cleaner and really contributes to getting things clean. He is really good at making things happen.

BOOKS

Here are some books he loves (you can see more and keep up on books he reads and loves on my Chapter Books for Boys  board. I also have one for girls):

SCHEDULE

Brayden’s Summer Schedule:
8:00 AM–wake up. Eat Breakfast. Get ready. Practice piano. Do daily chore.
We then did Indpendent playtime, free play, learning activities, walks, errands, park, visit museums, play with friends…Not all of that every day. 
12:00 PM–lunch
We then did play with siblings, free play, SSR, video game time, TV time…Not all of that every day.
5:30 PM–Dinner. Then time with family.
8:00 PM Start getting ready for bed.
9:00 PM–in bed (why does it take so long? We spend a lot of time reading before bedtime. We read scriptures then read chapter books).

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