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Bedtime!...But Mom I'm Not Tired!
By J Gardener
We all remember how we felt, growing up, when Mom called out, "Bedtime!" each
night. We resented it. She just picked a time out of thin air, we thought, and
made us go to bed, whether we were tired or not. We knew we had a good hour or
two left in us, to play or read or watch TV, before we felt the first twinges of
sleepiness. We thought we were old enough to decide for ourselves when it was
time to sleep, and Mom was making it up when she said, "You need your
sleep".
"Oh, yeah? Then how come you and Dad stay up till midnight?"
Nowadays, many of us are more lenient about sending our kids to bed. We think
that our parents were living in the dark ages, setting those arbitrary bedtimes
for the sake of exerting power over us. We're much more enlightened-after all,
left to their own devices, kids will get the sleep they need, right? Well, maybe
not.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, parents today tend to focus on
making their children's waking lives as fulfilling as possible, while they
ignore the "forgotten country" of sleep. The result is a large number of
children today with sleep-deprivation problems.
Based on a number of studies, it turns out that our parents were right. Kids,
especially younger kids, need large amounts of sleep, whether they think they
want it or not. In fact, up until the age of five, twelve hours of sleep,
including daytime naps, is the optimum for many children.
Many kids, especially toddlers, will fight their imposed bedtimes, while many
parents make the mistake of believing that, if they let their kids stay up
later, they'll fall asleep more easily. The opposite is often true-the more
tired kids get, the harder it is for many of them to fall asleep. And, once they
do nod off, their sleep is often more restless.
According to the National Institutes of Health , a child who doesn't get
necessary sleep can display a variety of problems throughout the day, including
lack of concentration in school, lack of performance in extra-curricular
activities, memory lapses, accidents or injuries, and behavioral problems. Many
sleep-deprived kids show signs of hyperactivity-rather than lethargy-which can
lead to misdiagnoses of other problems, such as ADHD (Attention
Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder).
So what can parents do, to get their kids to bed? One of the most effective
strategies is to make bedtime a ritual, and make your kids partners in the
decision-making process. Once the parent has set the bedtime, let the child
choose which pajamas to wear, which stuffed animals to sleep with, or which
story to hear, before the lights go out.
Make evening a relaxing time-too much activity can get kids too wound-up to
sleep, easily. Avoid caffeine and large meals close to bedtime.
Keep your child's bedroom dark and remove televisions and computers; these
are distractions which can tempt kids to stay awake, even when they're truly
tired.
Our moms may not have had the advantage of numerous scientific sleep studies
to rely on, but they weren't just making up facts out of thin air when they
insisted that kids need their sleep. They really do. About the Author Brought to you by Imaginary Greetings, a regular contributor of valuable family oriented content. For additional tips on how to truly light up your child's eyes this holiday season like never before with a letter from Santa.
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