When my oldest was a baby, she was an early riser.
The second the sunshine streamed through the curtains, she was awake. She wasn’t content to sit there gurgling happily until I wandered into her room to get her ready. No, she was ready now. So that started my life of early-rising, if nothing more than to let my husband get another couple hours of sleep before work.
That’s right. This angelic child was taking on the day between 4:30 and 5am. That summer I started taking her for long stroller rides instead, until it dawned on me – literally, at dawn – that I was training her to be up that early. Gradually, she reset her body clock to a more reasonable 6am.
Then she became a teenager. Suddenly my light sleeper turned into someone who could sleep through thunderstorms, trains and her sister’s alarm clock. She was staying up later, but it was also obvious she needed to sleep later, too.
Some researchers agree that teens, as a whole, need more sleep. More importantly, they need to wake up later. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), middle and high school students shouldn’t be required to start school before 8:30 in the morning. It’s a suggestion that could help prevent the widespread sleep deprivation that’s becoming the norm among American kids.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, most teens between the ages of 15 and 17 regularly sleep fewer than seven hours a night. Doctors, however, agree adolescents need more sleep. And, over the past several years, many researchers have linked sleep deprivation to bad grades, poor health, and car crashes.
Teens are apparently developmentally driven to stay up later and sleep in later, but thanks to the 7:25am. first bell that is nearly impossible to do. High school drop-off can resemble “The Walking Dead” with backpacks. Just try waking teenagers up early on days they know they can sleep in. You might see them at the crack of noon.
I’m all for more sleep – most parents will agree they themselves need more. I’m not sure having a later start time is realistic. A later start time will just push back all curricular activities – no coach or instructor alive is going to end practice an hour early if they can help it. Teachers are also not going to assign less homework because the day ends later. When your child gets home from a practice at 6pm. instead of 5pm. and then still has dinner and homework, it becomes an imposition on whatever family time is left. Teens who now try to be in bed by 10 or 11pm. will then stay up well past midnight trying to fit it all in – creating the opposite effect of what a later start time is trying to accomplish.
There is also a real-world component. In college there is no shortage of 8am classes, and you can’t avoid all of them if you hope to graduate. While many jobs have traditional start times, others involve shift work that can start at 6am. and include unpredictable hours that can vary in the same week. The world, unfortunately, is a cruel place.
So when my teen now grumbles in the wee hours, I try to show some compassion. Instead of a stroller ride and a Barney show, she has to get in a van to start an eight hour work day followed by a couple hours more of rehearsals and homework. And I won’t complain if her idea of the perfect school vacation is sleeping in.
