We always get spoiled in the summers. We let our kids stay up and sleep in a little later, we go on vacations and get all thrown off our regular schedules. Some parents manage to maintain consistent bedtimes, but lots of school-aged children go to bed later in the summertime. The days are longer, after all, so it’s hard on a kid to go to bed at his or her old “school night” time! The sun might still be shining!
But oh, the sweet long days of warm sunshine and freedom are at an end. It’s back to the grind! So what is a parent to do? Our youngsters need more structured bedtimes now or they’re going to fall asleep at their desks.
Here are some back to school bedtime tips we’ve picked up along the way to help you get your kids back in the swing of things fast.
- Start a couple of weeks ahead of time (now!) putting them to bed at progressively earlier bedtimes. Sending them to bed a whole hour early may seem impossible, but 20 minutes early is doable.
- Make the last hour of the day screen free, so the blue light from a TV screen, iPad or computer won’t keep your child awake. Experts say screen-time is really disruptive to sleep.
- Be reasonable as your youngsters seek to drain the last drop out of summer vacation, but once you’ve decided on a bedtime structure, talk it over with them and explain why it’s important.
- Establish a fun ritual for bedtime. Reading and snuggling together is a great option.
- Then, don’t give in when your kids pull those age-old childhood tricks (“I need a glass of water,” etc.) to stay up later. Stricter structure might be tough to enforce in the short term, but it’ll make the long-term better. Because sleep is crucial for kids.
Experts say most children in America are chronically sleep deprived. How much sleep do kids need? According to Dr. Richard Castriotta with the Sleep Disorders Center at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and UTHealth, elementary-aged kids should get 11 hours of sleep a night. Middle school kids need 10, and high school kids need 9 ½ hours.
The difference between grades at the A and B level and those in the Cs and Ds could be as little as a half hour of sleep, Castriotta told a Houston news agency, explaining that sleep-deprived children struggle to concentrate.
“Not allowing or requiring that your child get enough sleep is a handicap just when it’s going to be most important for development,” he reportedly said.
OK! Point taken.
Do you have any great parenting tips on school night bedtimes? Please share them with us!