We kind of took the other route, our daughter slept whenever there was time really. We took her backpacking across Europe for 2 months when she was 8 months old, she just slept whenever she was tired. At home she would go to bed if we were at home, but we didn't hesitate to go out for dinner or to a friends house or whatever and she'd just sleep whereever we ended up. In contrast some of our friends have kids who will only sleep if they're in their usual environment which can make things a bit tricky. We're expecting number 2 in 10 weeks, so hopefully the next one is equally easy going.
I find kids adopt to their parents way of doing things. My wife and I are rather calm, and so are our children. They fall asleep easily enough, are happy children, and calm and relaxed.
The problem some parents have with their children is they try to change the way the children behave to something other than what they learned from their parents.
If they are the type to go out, party, invite friends over and stay up late, etc, then they should expect their children to emulate that. It's when the parents want their children to behave differently that you have a problem. This is all purely my own experience.
My sister gets in a panic if the kids aren't in the bath at a particular time, aren't in bed on routine haven't finished a meal at the set time, etc.. PITA I say.
We've had problems now that J has gone to school. We couldn't keep the same sleep regime as we had to be up to get to school.
