Students Need A LOT More Sleep Than You Think

Your kids' bedtime.

Ah, just reading those words puts a smile on your face, doesn't it? I love my children as much as the next parent, and at the same time I am not ashamed to admit that I also love sending them to bed at the end of a long day.

The two things are not mutually exclusive.

Kids need sleep. Lots and lots of sleep. They need consistent bedtimes and regular sleeping hours.

You may be surprised to learn how much sleep your children need:

• 3 to 6 year olds = 12 hours a night
• 7 to 9 year olds = 11 hours a night
• 10 to 12 year olds = 10 hours a night
• 12 to 18 year olds = 8 to 9 hours a night

So, are your children getting enough sleep? Few are. And, it is not the once-in-awhile-crazy-late bedtimes that cause the long-lasting problems. It’s the kinda-late-every-single-night bedtimes that do the most damage and cause problems in school. Students need to be at their best at school every day, and that means they need to be well-rested every day. Consistently losing even a small amount of sleep adversely affects children. Sleep-deprived children don't grow as fast as they should, don’t learn as much they could, and don't get along as well with others.

Some students come to school sleepy nearly every single day. They spend their entire academic careers operating at less than their best. How much learning do you think is taking place?

Just to clarify: sleeping means eyes closed, snoring, dreaming. It does not mean brushing teeth, begging for one more story, arguing and debating the merits of sleep, watching one more show, getting ready to hang up the phone or turn of the computer. Sleep means sleep.

 

Don’t you wish that someone demanded that you go to your room, get in the bed and go to sleep? This is punishment?