LEPS Parents' & Citizens'

Time for Bed

Well, the results are in of the very first LEPS P&C Internet Poll -

"What time does your 10 yr old go to bed on a school night?"

and here are the bare facts:

Some observations about the poll results and reactions it garnered:

• Most children tell their parents that they have the earliest bedtime out of everyone they know.
• Most children are prone to exaggeration if it suits them.
• Most children have not yet worked out how to vote in online polls.
• Most parents are delighted they now have some proof to refute their childrens allegations

If your kids are like ours, they love the idea of staying up late, especially on a school night. It gives them bragging rights at school; it's just not cool to have an early bedtime. How often have you heard that everyone else in the class has a later bedtime than them and as such having to go to bed at X.xx p.m. is an absolute outrage!

However, if they are going to bed too late, it's unlikely they realise (or particularly care) the affects that sleep deprivation is having on their lives. Common symptons include:

• Attention & concentration problems
• Hyperactivity
• Mood swings
• Anxiety

The best way of telling whether a grumpy child is tired, is seeing how they handle being told that their mood is due to tiredness. An angry, over-emotional denial is all the proof you need.

It is a well-proven fact that you cannot make up for lost hours of sleep on weekends. Once sleep is lost, it can never be regained.

So how much is enough? Guidelines vary, but the following table provides a reasonable consensus:

Interestingly, it is thought that teenagers need as much sleep as small children (at least 10 hours), while those over 65 need the least of all (about six hours). For the average adult, eight hours is considered optimal.

So, working backwards, if your 9 year old has to be awake by 7.00 a.m. to get ready for school, they need to have been asleep since 9.00 pm. If average dropping off time is 15 mins, then they need to have lights out by 8.45 pm. If they tend to wake up earlier than 7.00 a.m. or take longer to get to sleep, then this would require an earlier bedtime. Judging by our poll, it seems that LEPS parents have already get this well worked out.

Of course, if we are honest, the real determinant of bedtime is when we want a little bit of peace and quiet to ourselves.

See the full results here