Bedtime (also called putting to bed or tucking in) is a ritual part of parenting to help children feel more secure, and become accustomed to a more rigid schedule of sleep than they might prefer. It may involve bedtime stories, children's songs, nursery rhymes, bed-making and getting children to change into nightwear. In some religious households prayers are said shortly before going to bed.
In adult use, the term means simply "time for bed", similar to curfew, as in "It's past my bedtime". Some people are accustomed to drinking a nightcap or herbal tea at bedtime.
Synonyms
In boarding schools and on trips or holidays that involve young people, the equivalent of bedtime is lights out or lights-out; a term also used in prisons, hospitals, in the military, and in sleep research.