How do kids who go to school get enough sleep?

[JumpyTheFrog]

I was talking with a neighbor last night. She mentioned her 6 year old's problem with dark circles under her eyes. She was wondering about allergies, but I asked if they go away when the girl gets more sleep. She said they get much better.

 

The daughter sleeps from 9pm-7:30 am, or less. I don't think 10.5 hours is enough for most 6 year olds. My son, who is a year younger, sleeps about 11-12 hours. He needs 12 consistently or his behavior becomes terrible.

 

It seems very unrealistic for a family to get their kids to bed every night by 7:30pm. It would make any evening activities impossible and eliminate much chance to see any parents that work during the day. In order for them to get enough sleep, she'd see them for about one hour in the morning and three hours after school before bed, during which they'd be doing homework, eating dinner, and taking a bath. No wonder she's thought about homeschooling, just so she could see her kids more.

[Homemama2]

I know my own kids seem to need more sleep than my neighbor kids. They (the neighbor kids) all go to bed between 9 and 10:30 each night and they did even at 6 yrs old (school nights, too-not just during the summer.) Mine would go to bed between 8:00-8:30 and get up at 7 until this year (my oldest is 9.) Now they go to bed around 9. I have know idea if this effects the neighbor kids or not, but mine are grouchy if they don't have alot of sleep.

[MBM]

At age six, my kids went to bed at 7:30 and slept until 7:30 the next morning. A 9:00 bedtime would have been too late. My husband and I usually hit the hay at about 9:00 ourselves.

 

My youngest is a freshman in high school now and goes to bed around 9:00, sometimes a bit earlier if he has a big test the next day. Even an extra one-half hour can make a difference in how a child functions the next day.

 

I do think many teens are tired, and it's only made worse when their sleepiness starts to occur later at night and they have to wake up earlier.

[Scarlett]

I was talking with a neighbor last night. She mentioned her 6 year old's problem with dark circles under her eyes. She was wondering about allergies, but I asked if they go away when the girl gets more sleep. She said they get much better.

 

The daughter sleeps from 9pm-7:30 am, or less. I don't think 10.5 hours is enough for most 6 year olds. My son, who is a year younger, sleeps about 11-12 hours. He needs 12 consistently or his behavior becomes terrible.

 

It seems very unrealistic for a family to get their kids to bed every night by 7:30pm. It would make any evening activities impossible and eliminate much chance to see any parents that work during the day. In order for them to get enough sleep, she'd see them for about one hour in the morning and three hours after school before bed, during which they'd be doing homework, eating dinner, and taking a bath. No wonder she's thought about homeschooling, just so she could see her kids more.

 

I don't think they do. My ds11 has needed 10 hours of sleep at minimum for years. Our ideal is for him to be to sleep by 10 and up at 8:00, but as is often the case he gets to sleep later and I let him sleep later. I don't know how public school kids do it.

[Bluegoat]

I've wondered this too, I have my girls in bed by 8:30 at the latest, and they usually sleep until 8 the next morning. Ds is usually up later but also still naps.

 

I know a lot of parents that have their kids up by 6:30 to go to morning care before school or daycare, and they aren't in bed until 8:30 or later. Or, they just see almost nothing of their kids.

 

I wonder what the long term affects of sleep debt are for growing brains?

[Joyofsixreboot]

They don't. By high school it's worse.

[6packofun]

My teen dd would be a MESS if she had to sleep on the public school's schedule. I actually worry about how she will schedule college classes, but those are much more flexible for the most part. My dh teases her that she's not a normal teen because she's in bed before everyone in our house, including the 5yo. LOL She does get up at a decent hour, but not 6 a.m.!

[Ester Maria]

I guess the simple answer would be that they don't. :glare:

 

It's just not realistic to put them in bed to get 11-12 hours of sleep, so some of that gets chopped off and they end up sleeping 9-10 hours. How much sleep they need is very individual, but for many (most?) kids, that's just not enough at that age. So they start little by little to get used to the chronically sleep-deprived culture they will be a part of. By high school and college it becomes a REAL issue, many of those students get far less than 8 hours of sleep per night, and in theory they should get several hours MORE. But it's just not practical.

[MinivanMom]

They don't get enough sleep.

 

Most of the elementary-aged kids I know go to sleep between 9 and 10 pm. I'm not sure they can go to bed any earlier since they don't step off the bus until 4:00 pm (5:00 for magnet kids). Then they have homework, music practice, activities, etc. Most public school parents I know consider getting their kids into bed at 9 pm really good considering the overall demands on their kids' time. Then they have to be at the bus stop by 7:30 am (6:00 if they bus to the magnet schools). That's a maximum of 8-9 hours of sleep each night.

 

I don't think that's enough sleep (especially for kindergarten and lower-elementary), but I think you just get used to sleep deprivation. Eventually, you stop noticing how the lack of sleep affects your kids' attention-span, behavior, and learning. It just becomes normal.

[Julie Smith]

Except when growth spurting my youngest - who turns 6 tomorrow is good with 9 to 10 hours a night. He just doesn't need anymore, and wouldn't sleep more then that even with black out curtains, quiet house, ...

[kandty]

I lot of kids go to bed at 10 pm (later as the get older) and get up at 6 am for school (I can name dozens that I know of). And then their parents are always wondering why there kids behave badly, that their school work is not that great, and the kids are sick all the time. All from lack of sleep!

[regentrude]

The daughter sleeps from 9pm-7:30 am, or less. I don't think 10.5 hours is enough for most 6 year olds. My son, who is a year younger, sleeps about 11-12 hours. He needs 12 consistently or his behavior becomes terrible.

 

My kids did attend school throughout 6th grade, and sleep was never an issue. We were walking to school and had to leave the house by 7:30am. If they went to bed between 8pm and 9pm, they would be up at 6am without being woken, an hour earlier than they had to be. (An earlier bedtime would cause kids to be up at 5am - way too early for ME)

I do not think most elementary age kids need as much sleep as your son.

ETA: This said: I do not think elementary age students need to participate in regular evening activities past 7pm. Occasionally, fine; several nights a week, no.

 

I went to school myself, had to leave the house at 6:30. I can not recall being tired, nor ever being chronically sleep deprived - not even in college.

Edited November 15, 2011 by regentrude

[amo_mea_filiis.]

They don't get nearly enough sleep. When mine were in regular PS, we did NOTHING during the week. Ds was in bed asleep by 6:30 and dd about 8. I'd hear many, many parents who would say they wished their kid would go to sleep by 10! K-1st graders!

 

Last year, my son's school had their winter concert, and it didn't even start until 8pm. I refused to send him to school the next day.

[Chocolatemuffins]

My DS (6) goes to sleep around 8 and wakes up at 6 or slightly earlier every morning. I wish he had more sleep but every kid seems to need different.

 

On the other hand, when I used to teach teenagers in SS class they always came in yawning.

 

What concerns me about PS is HOW much more tiring the actual day is. My DS2 went to preschool for 3 mornings when he was nearly 4. He came home exhausted and started having his naps again. Maybe if they have a calm day at home they need less sleep! :)

[bbkaren]

My son is 6, has an 8:00 p.m. bedtime (at which point we read for a half hour) so he sleeps from 8:30 until we get up at 6:30 a.m.

 

I work full-time and Dad's out of town a lot doing construction on our house in TN so it's just the two of us.

 

He's still a public schooler but we're before- and after-schooling so we need that extra time to squeeze in some HS type work.

 

I do believe he'd sleep a little bit later if I let him...but as evidenced by weekends, he'd only sleep another half hour or so (he's up at 7 a.m. like clockwork when left alone).

 

I guess he's okay with 10 hours of sleep...

[Chris in VA]

They don't. By high school it's worse.

 

:iagree::iagree:

 

We tried to get the start time for high school changed from 7:25 to 8, just to give the kids more sleep. Even half an hour would help. But the bus schedule is too complicated, and they don't want to deprive kids of athletic practice time and job time after school. School gets out at 2:05. You'd think getting out at 2:45 or so wouldn't make that big a diff....

[justamouse]

I don't believe for an instant that ps kids get enough sleep.

[Laura Corin]

My children get a fair bit of sleep. The 11yo sleeps 10 1/2 hours on average; the 14yo sleeps around ten hours. They attend early evening activities.

 

Laura

[In The Great White North]

I don't think most of them get enough sleep, especially in high school. Some of the teachers here actually provide coffee for first period!

 

An interesting study was done on college swimmers, a group notorious for not getting enough sleep.

 

It’s worthwhile taking note of an ongoing study which suggests that athletes who get an extra amount of sleep are more likely to have better performance, mood, and alertness.

These findings spring from an albeit small investigation involving five students on the Stanford University men’s and women’s swimming teams.

The participants maintained their usual sleep-wake pattern for the first two weeks of the study, and then extended their sleep to 10 hours per day for six to seven weeks.

With extra sleep the athletes swam a 15-meter meter sprint 0.51s faster, reacted 0.15s quicker off the blocks, improved turn time by 0.10s, and increased kick strokes by 5.0 kicks.

Researcher Cheri Mah of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Laboratory said “Typically, many athletes accumulate a large sleep debt by not obtaining their individual sleep requirement each night, which can have detrimental effects on cognitive function, mood, and reaction time. These negative effects can be minimized or eliminated by prioritizing sleep in general and, more specifically, obtaining extra sleep to reduce one’s sleep debt.â€

“It is interesting to note that many of the athletes in the various sports I have worked with, including the swimmers in this study, have set multiple new personal records and season best times, as well as broken long-standing Stanford and American records while participating in this study,†Mah said.

 

What I found interesting was:

 

1) The control group of "normal" sleep was the shorter amount. The testers didn't think any of the subjects were getting enough sleep.

 

2) The .51 second is a HUGE time difference in the 50m (which is much longer than a mere 15 m.)

 

3.) The effects were on cognitive function (ie school,) mood (what have moms been saying all these years,) and reaction time (think driving.)

 

The researcher, Mah, has gone on to study other sports team with similar results. (Google Stanford sleep study to find several of them.) I suspect that if she applied it to test taking skills, she find the same thing.

[Mynyel]

I don't think kids get enough sleep. I also think a lot of what it boils down to is over-stimulation.

 

They get home from school and do homework, go to sports, watch TV, play a video game etc... Then it hits 8pm and it is bedtime. Cold turkey. It takes time to wind down. So even if kids are in bed at 8pm doesn't mean they close their eyes and *BAM* asleep. It takes them a while to wind down. Then sleep. So while a child may be in bed for 10 hours they aren't asleep for 10 hours.

 

Kids have way to much to do rather than sleep. Parents have way to much to do rather than fight them to go to bed when they want to stay up and be distracted by whatever it is they are distracted by.

 

I remember my sisters going to be at 8pm and waking up on their own about 6:30 to 7am. No one had to wake them up. However my daughter would go to sleep at 10pm and not get out of bed until 10am.

 

You can't say that because one child needs less sleep that all need less sleep, or that because one needs more all need more. I do think that school does start a tad to early. Why do any schools need to start *before* 8am? Jeez the bank doesn't even open until 9 (not talking drive through :P).

 

I roll out of bed when I want to, my kids roll out of bed when they want to (well for the most part).

 

I love homeschooling! :D

[Roadrunner]

My little ones go to sleep by 9pm and they are up around 7:45 to 8am. The school starts at 8:40am, but since we live 2 minutes drive away, it's plenty of time. They usually eat their oatmeal, put on their jeans and they are off to school. 30 minutes is more than enough. I get launches and backpacks ready around 6:30am before I head out. We haven't had an issue.

[wapiti]

I don't agree that it's unrealistic to have a 6 y.o. in bed by 7:30, but of course a lot depends on what else is going on in the family and what their priorities are.

 

In our house, sleep is a major priority. My 2 y.o., 3 y.o. and 5 y.o. are all in bed by 7:30. My 10 y.o. and 8 y.o.s are in bed around 8:30. I do not sign anyone up for nighttime activities (one of reasons we haven't done, say, scouting groups). My DH travels quite often and when he isn't travelling, he often works late (in our house, I do not keep the kids up to wait for daddy). It would be difficult to have a 15 y.o. attending an activity that went late unless I arranged for a sitter or carpool.

[snickelfritz]

My older dd started school this year.

 

She doesn't sleep less now, but her sleep habits have changed. She used to be up until 10, and then sleep until she woke up (always by 8....often closer to 7) Now, she goes to bed at 8:30 (asleep by 9) and wakes up at 6:45. Wednesday nights we have no activities and no homework, so we have a quiet evening and everyone goes to bed a bit earlier. She can usually sleep in a little on Saturdays and Sundays.... She's still usually up by 7:30.

 

And that is with a fair amount of homework (private school) and activities (soccer, after-school art, piano, and cheerleading.

 

Now, we don't have the luxury of special late nights. She can't sleep in the next day, if we decide to go get groceries at 8:30 at night. So, we are just more structured..

[bbkaren]

I think it's unrealistic based on how many people's days go. If both parents work a 9 - 5 job they probably aren't eating dinner until 6 - 6:30. That doesn't leave much time before 7:30.

 

That's us. I'm not even home until 6 p.m. so at 7:30 we're finished with dinner and he's doing schoolwork...8:00 bedtime (we read in his bed till 8:30).

 

Not much of a life. I'm so looking forward to moving to a new place where I can stay home and focus on my kid; we're so fortunate to have that within our sights.

[LizzyBee]

At age 6, my kids only slept 8-10 hours per night. They only slept 12 hours per night until they were maybe 2 yo. Except my youngest; we were lucky if she slept 7-8 hours/ night and she didn't sleep at all during the day. :tongue_smilie:

 

My teens go to PS, and they get about 8 hours of sleep most nights. If it's a heavy homework evening, they get less. They tend to sleep late on Saturdays. Their school starts at 8:15.

 

My homeschooled dd is the one with dark circles, though. She has huge allergy shiners in spite of taking Allegra daily (when she remembers to).

Edited November 15, 2011 by LizzyBee

[Lolly]

Not one of my 6 yos would have slept for 10 hours unless they were in a growth spurt or sick.

[LMD]

My boys are up at the crack of dawn no matter what time I put them down. Black out curtains help only a little. Light sleepers like their dad. I think I'll be making them nap forever.

My DD is like me, and likes to fall asleep reading and sleep in. This is one of my most favourite reasons for homeschooling at the moment! I have often thought that having to be up by x am for school would be very annoying and not good for her sleep.

[J-rap]

I've wondered the same thing, many times. One of my daughters is taking two classes at the high school this year. They happen to be first and second period -- ugh! Last night she was so tired, so I encouraged her to sleep in and skip school. She did. Sleep is soooo important! ;)

[nmoira]

My 7yo *needs* about 11 hours sleep a night. She can go for a day or two with less, but she's a bear to live with by day two.

 

My almost 10yo still sleeps at least 9-1/2 hours.

 

I can't see how they'd get the amount of sleep they need if they were going to school.

[unsinkable]

my DS who is in a private boys high school is constantly tired. I've asked for advice here before about it. ;)

 

One of the biggest problems, for him, is that he gets a "second wind" if he has to be up past when his body naturally wants to fall asleep. Then he can't sleep. So he is even more tired. It's a vicious cycle.

[FairProspects]

I think these speculative schedules are downright optimistic compared to what I actually see from many neighbors and public school friends. Most sports are in the evenings here, and particularly if a child has older siblings, I know many families don't even get home until 8 -9pm and then they start dinner, homework, bath, etc. I don't think a lot of kids here get to bed before 9:30pm (or later) even in early elementary.

 

Sports are king here, and they definitely trumps sleep even for very young children. (In fact a recent school board meeting about scheduling broke down into a shouting match, not related to school subjects, but how the changes would affect sports schedules.)

[Joker]

I don't think all need 11-12 hrs of sleep. Mine seem to do really well now on about 9 hrs sleep a night. When they get a chance to sleep in they still get up early.

 

Older dd goes to ps for middle school and is asleep by 10pm and up at 7am with no problem. Our high school doesn't start until 9:30 so if she's needing more sleep at that age she should be fine.

[snickelfritz]

I think these speculative schedules are downright optimistic compared to what I actually see from many neighbors and public school friends. Most sports are in the evenings here, and particularly if a child has older siblings, I know many families don't even get home until 8 -9pm and then they start dinner, homework, bath, etc. I don't think a lot of kids here get to bed before 9:30pm (or later) even in early elementary.

 

Sports are king here, and they definitely trumps sleep even for very young children. (In fact a recent school board meeting about scheduling broke down into a shouting match, not related to school subjects, but how the changes would affect sports schedules.)

 

 

I posted a schedule that is real life, not speculative. :)

 

HOWEVER, I don't work. My dd's homework is done by 4:00 or 5:00. Then she goes to sports and can come home and go to bed. I have wondered how working parents could possible get it all done, unless the kids are in after-school programs that include finishing homework (or---are staying up really late.)

 

I do love certain aspects of a private school--no homework on Wednesdays (so, it's our catch-up day for homework and

rest) and no activities allowed on Sundays.

 

Oh---and I have found that we have NO time for tv or video games during the week. Even one tv show would creep that bedtime later. I'd rather they spend that 30 minutes relaxing/playing/free reading......basically decompressing.

Edited November 15, 2011 by snickelfritz

[caedmyn]

Except when growth spurting my youngest - who turns 6 tomorrow is good with 9 to 10 hours a night. He just doesn't need anymore, and wouldn't sleep more then that even with black out curtains, quiet house, ...

 

I have one of those too. DD will be 6 next month, and she doesn't generally sleep more than 9.5-10 hours a night (as an average). She does go to school half days and has to be up by 6:30, but she is almost always up before I get her up. She goes to bed at 7:30 most nights with a couple late (9-10 pm) nights a week. But many days she is up on her own before 6 am. Before she started school she'd go to bed around 8 but rarely fell asleep before 9 or 9:30, and she was almost always up before 7.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

I know,RIGHT? I know if I had to get my kiddo up/out the door on time fed/clothed and ready for school things would be just awful....he's NOT a morning person (as studies go)......

[naturalhomestead]

I totally agree. The school bus comes down our country road at 7:15 every morning when my children are just rolling out of bed. And they go to bed at 8:00 every night. I am so thankful to have my children home where they can get enough sleep and where I don't have to be a drill sergeant every morning to them.

[lauracolumbus]

There's a lot of science behind the sleep deprivation of most kids. I haven't seen anything about the long term effects, but the short term are pretty drastic.

 

We're a sports family here and I marvel how the kids in school do it. My kids don't usually get home til 8 at the earliest and dd's gymnastics is over at 9 (this is noncompetitive). (I know a scout troop that ends at 9 as well). By the time she gets home, eats, showers, chills, it is past 10:30. She sleeps in. The other girls don't. When my ds played football, he'd finish at 8 ish, get home completely exhausted, eat, shower and go to bed around 9:30. He was never a sleeper, but he slept in during football season b/c his body was exhausted.

 

I also am friends w/several of my kids' friends on FB. I've told a couple of them who are on after 10 pm to go to bed. Many of these kids have access to all sorts of electronics in their rooms, so even though they're in bed, they're not sleeping. My SIL found out her ds was texting as late as 2 am. He still is allowed to take the phone to his room.

 

Here's a great book on lots of things related to the brain:

http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Rules-Principles-Surviving-Thriving/dp/0979777747/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1321408125&sr=8-18

 

My kids didn't start sleeping through the night til they were about 4. I'm a sleep fanatic here after being sleep deprived for so many years.

 

Laura

[Laura Corin]

There's a lot of science behind the sleep deprivation of most kids. I haven't seen anything about the long term effects, but the short term are pretty drastic.

 

We're a sports family here and I marvel how the kids in school do it. My kids don't usually get home til 8 at the earliest and dd's gymnastics is over at 9 (this is noncompetitive). (I know a scout troop that ends at 9 as well).

 

I am very keen on the boys getting lots of sleep. They have a few after-school activities that end at 5:30. Hobbes also goes to scouts one day a week and gets into bed at 10pm that night. Every other night he goes to bed at 8:30 and gets up at 7:15. I think that that's fine.

 

Laura

[choirfarm]

Ok... we must be weird! My children's bedtime has been 9pm FOREVER... I mean since 5 or so. They typically are not asleep until 10 or so. I get them up at 7 for school. Even on weekends when theycan sleep till they want, they tend to get up at 7..8 at the latest and the teens often stay up until 10 or 11 watching a football game... I go to sleep by 10 and am awake by 3 or 4. I'm not sure everyone needs 12 hours of sleep.

[KidsHappen]

Most kids who go to school simply do not get enough sleep. When my kids were home they slept at least 10-12 hours per night. Now they get 6 at the most and it is obvious that they need more. Sometimes they will nap when they get home from school, occassionally they have went to bed at 6:00 pm and slept all night and they always sleep more on the weekends. They get home a 3:00 pm and I would like to see them in bed a 9:00 so that is 6 hours to do homework (and the load is pretty heavy by high school), chores, any activities, eating, bathing, hair (time heavy job for one of my girls), picking out clothes and preparing for the next day. That leaves them almost no time for any social activties, time with the family or even time to just do free reading or watching tv or anything else really. They are busy all the time and just basic requirements cut into their sleep. Worse still I think they are setting themselves up for worse problems in the future.

 

Because I think it gets even worse as you age. College students probably have it the worst, then young adults have it a tough time and then babies show up and there is very little sleep, and so on and so forth until you show up on the door of menopause majorly sleep deprived. Is it any wonder that both out physical and mental health are in such rough shape? Our entire society is majorly sleep deprived. I have battled insomnia for years and have just recently insititued a new regimented sleep schedule that really seems to be helping but right now my body seems to be trying to make up for 30 years of sleep deprivation and it is taking all of my energy jut to maintain sleep and eat and mood patterns. I think this is one of the major health problems facing our society and it is also one of the causitive factors in many of our other health problems like weakened immune systems, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.

[JFSinIL]

They don't.

 

OK, I will come clean, after homeschooling most of primary/middle grades for most kids most of the time (each year was different depending on the needs of the kid vs. school offerings, etc.) I now have no more kids at home (ok, one is in college, but I still have three in high school).

 

To catch a bus here for high school the kids start getting up at 5:15 am. So when are they supposed to go to sleep to get 9 - 10 hours? Even 8 hours puts "bedtime" at 9:15 pm - you show me any teen ready and able to conk off that early in the evening!

 

Our district re-uses the high school buses for later-starting middle and elementary schools. High school just got the short end of the stick, time-wise. I might add - the busses do not return the kids until close to 4pm. So after unwinding/eating there are not very many hours left for homework/jobs/chores etc.

[LisaKinVA]

you show me any teen ready and able to conk off that early in the evening!

 

hehe... I was (but I was/am WEIRD that way!). Even in college, I routinely got to bed around 9:30pm, because I had to be at work by 5. I still need more sleep than my husband, or I am a royal grump.

 

Bedtime here is 8pm. The older children may read for 30 minutes to an hour, or write in their journals... but no electronics. No television during the week, either (and not much on the weekends). The younger children are in bed, going to sleep by 8. DH and I are usually up until 10 or 11. I prefer 10... DH is really anytime before 1am :tongue_smilie:.

 

My children's friends? I don't know how they do it. They are waiting for the bus out here at between 7am (older kids) and 8am (younger kids), which usually means they are up by 6:30. The younger kids get home around 4-4:30, and the olders around 3. Activities are in the evenings... we only do scouts and swimming. My kids get home from swimming at 7:45pm, and it's really just brush your teeth and get ready for bed. I know some of these kids on the team also have homework to do. At my younger children's level they have swimming 3x a week. My olders are 4x a week... and in another year or two, they will be up to 5x a week (but I have an option of morning and Saturday morning practice, too).

 

I don't see how other families manage... and am grateful we homeschool.

[Splinter]

Saying that all public schooled kids don't get enough sleep is kind of ridiculous.

 

My 6 and 7 year olds are in public school. They go to bed between 8 and 8:30. Sometimes they have an activity that goes to 8, so they grab a quick shower and go to bed as soon as we get home. They wake up on their own anytime between 6:30 and 7:30 and get on the bus at 8:15.

[meggie]

I don't know how they do it. I was in PS all the way through and I did not get enough sleep, at least in high school. I'd be up well past midnight, tossing and turning, then have to get up at 530 to get ready. It became habit to live with so little sleep. Pigby goes to a charter school one day a week and even on those days, I feel so bad having to wake him up at 7. I think it's getting been getting better. He shares a room with Digby and Digby would always be up until 9 or 10 or later yelling and jumping and hollering. Pigby did learn to sleep through it, but it kept him up later than if it were quiet. Now Digby is a little easier to reason with and I have to tell them every night "not to talk to each other, not to look at each other, not to play with each other, not to sing, close your mouth, close your eyes, go to bed!" It's been working more and more and now it's quiet by 830 instead of 1030.

 

Reading all these responses do make me thankful I get to homeschool.

[Splinter]

So what about things like dinner, homework, time to wind down, etc.?

 

I can't just come home, jump in the shower, then crash into bed. It takes me a long time to wind down (always has). You might just be much different?!

 

They're home from school by 3:15 most days, except 4:30 on Fridays because they play indoor soccer after school. The earliest evening activity we have is at 6, so we usually eat dinner at 5 and leave the house around 5:30. Homework rarely takes more than 20 minutes and they either do it right before dinner or while they're watching a sibling's activity. Maybe my kids are just more adaptable than most, but when we walk in the door at 8:10 and I say they have to be showered, with their teeth brushed and in bed by 8:30, they are.

[elegantlion]

If my ds had been in public school in elementary he would have rarely got to spend time with dh. We did private school for prek and K and it was awful for sleeping. Dh was working long hours and sometimes didn't get home before 7 or 8.

 

Now ds's bedtime is 10:30, he sleeps until 9am on most mornings. If he doesn't he's a bear. Spending time with dh has always been important. We'd really struggle with a public school schedule.

[Daisy]

My kids did attend school throughout 6th grade, and sleep was never an issue. We were walking to school and had to leave the house by 7:30am. If they went to bed between 8pm and 9pm, they would be up at 6am without being woken, an hour earlier than they had to be. (An earlier bedtime would cause kids to be up at 5am - way too early for ME)

I do not think most elementary age kids need as much sleep as your son.

ETA: This said: I do not think elementary age students need to participate in regular evening activities past 7pm. Occasionally, fine; several nights a week, no.

 

I went to school myself, had to leave the house at 6:30. I can not recall being tired, nor ever being chronically sleep deprived - not even in college.

 

:iagree:

 

8pm to 6/7am seems normal to me.

 

My kids are lights out at 8:30pm and up by 6am every morning.

 

Whatever happened to an 8pm bedtime? That's what I want to know. So many of these kids are allowed to stay up SO LATE.

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

I don't think most of them get enough sleep, especially in high school. Some of the teachers here actually provide coffee for first period!

 

An interesting study was done on college swimmers, a group notorious for not getting enough sleep.

 

 

 

What I found interesting was:

 

1) The control group of "normal" sleep was the shorter amount. The testers didn't think any of the subjects were getting enough sleep.

 

2) The .51 second is a HUGE time difference in the 50m (which is much longer than a mere 15 m.)

 

3.) The effects were on cognitive function (ie school,) mood (what have moms been saying all these years,) and reaction time (think driving.)

 

The researcher, Mah, has gone on to study other sports team with similar results. (Google Stanford sleep study to find several of them.) I suspect that if she applied it to test taking skills, she find the same thing.

 

Very interesting study. My husband was a college swimmer. He fell asleep driving and rear-ended a semi-truck. Not pretty.

[Joker]

:iagree:

 

8pm to 6/7am seems normal to me.

 

My kids are lights out at 8:30pm and up by 6am every morning.

 

Whatever happened to an 8pm bedtime? That's what I want to know. So many of these kids are allowed to stay up SO LATE.

 

Dh gets home from work between 5:30 - 6pm. He wants, and they need, more than two hours a night during the week.

[regentrude]

then young adults have it a tough time and then babies show up and there is very little sleep, and so on and so forth until you show up on the door of menopause majorly sleep deprived. Is it any wonder that both out physical and mental health are in such rough shape? .

 

But nobody is forced to stay up late. What do most adults do late at night? Watch TV. Not strictly necessary.

If you don't have little ones, it is entirely possible to get enough sleep. It is a question of priorities. So yes, I am in bed before my teens, but I make getting 8-9 hours sleep a priority. There is nothing happening late at night in my house that would be more important than sleeping.

(I agree with sleep deprivation and little kids; there is now ay around it. But later in life? Most adults could go to sleep hours earlier than they do - if they wanted to.)