Back to School - In praise of an early bedtime.

What you need to know:

1.    The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under age 5 get 12 HOURS OR MORE of sleep per 24 hours.

2.    Chronic sleep deprivation is linked to obesity, ADHD and learning disabilities

3.    Putting kids to bed early is a courageous act of self-care

 

SLEEP RULES!

This is not new information: sleep is SUPER IMPORTANT. But it bears repeating (and repeating). 

 

Sleep is not optional.

 

Sleep is not a nice thing to have. 

 

Sleep is not negotiable. 

 

Research Shows

Our brains NEED sleep in order to function. The research is very clear that decreasing sleep even by increments of 15 minutes has a measurable (and deleterious) effect on mood, behavior, and learning. And there’s a reason that sleep deprivation is used as a means of torture (by terrorists …and infants!)

 

I’m going to assume that it’s already clear to you that toddlers are hard to manage. They require extra time, extra patience, extra reserves of energy you didn’t you had. 

 

So, why would you further handicap yourself by depriving them (and yourself for that matter) of sleep? 

 

Courageous Self-Care

Putting your kids to bed early – probably earlier than you think they need to go – is a courageous act of self-care. Because the earlier your kids go to bed, the more time you’ll have for yourself and your partner. 

 

The more likely it is that you’ll go to bed on time (assuming you’ve already binge-watched the new season of your show). 

 

The more likely it is that you’ll have the patience, stamina and energy to deal with your toddlerasaurus.

 

The year my daughter started a full-day pre-k program at our local public school, she went to bed at 6:15pm every night from September to January. 

 

Yep – 6:15pm.

 

Was that hard to manage? Heck, yes. It meant that I had to change practically everything about our evening routine at home.  But it was worth it because the next day, she would wake herself up and be ready for action! And, in the process, my husband and I were able to have some quiet evenings to ourselves (after our other kiddo had gone off to sleep).

 

What time do your kiddos go to bed? Is it the right time for them? What’s getting in the way of you pushing their bedtime earlier? Will you share with us?

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