Distractions May Shift, but Sleep Needs Don’t

For a long time, children used to go to bed early, and not just in Proust. Think of Robert Louis Stevenson:

In winter I get up at night

And dress by yellow candle-light.

In summer, quite the other way,

I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see

The birds still hopping on the tree.

Well, not my children. Clearly, I did this wrong.

When I read that Barack and Michelle Obama had set their daughters’ bedtime for 8 p.m., I asked my oldest (now 25) if he remembered having a bedtime when he was little. He just laughed at me.

When he was a preschooler, I was a pediatric resident (before the limits on work hours), and evenings tended to start around 7 p.m. And mind you, these were 1980s evenings, free of e-mail and cellphones and texting and all the other distractions that make it harder and harder for a child — or an adult — to say goodnight. I’m not sure any of my three children ever had a regular bedtime before 9:30 or 10.

Even at that, I’m afraid, we were pretty ad hoc: oh my, it’s almost 11 and the kid is still awake! Time to read him a story and put him to bed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/health/10klas.html?th&emc=th

it worked. I pinched my dad's flashlight and would read under the covers. I wasn't fooling anybody and my dad wisely kept it supplied with batteries.

My parents were satisfied as long as I was in the bed and out of their hair.

early bedtimes aren't always for the kids' sake. ;-)

Even as a youngster, it just didn't seem right.

Sleep deprivation and obesity are closely correlated.

had 8:00 bedtime until he was a teenager, during the school year. And not much later during the summer unless we were camping.
He had perfect attendance every year.
As a troubled sleeper for my entire life, I wanted him to have a good habit.
Very rarely he needed to talk awhile, if something was on his mind keeping him awake.
Time flies, and they grow up very quickly; so the sacrifices are hardly noticeable in the span of things.

.....the scenario I see too often: parents getting ever more irritated with the increasingly whiny child and eventually hollering "Go to bed!" By the time the kid goes to bed, everyone's mad at each other. Negotiating the bed time every damned night is stressful.

Until middle school, kids should simply have a bath some time after supper, have some quiet time with family, and go to bed with a book.

Great habit.

though I wish I knew then everything know now! I was mostly a stay home mom, but supplemented by watching niece and nephew or neighborhood kids after school. They always had a snack, play time, preferably outside, and then homework before dinner.

I've just been debating spanking with someone :( . Too many kids don't get enough play time. I used to send my son to the back yard to run laps around the yard. When he got older, one day he asked if he could run around the block! I said, sure, take off. He's 30 and still has a lot of energy but channels it constructively, and has a very demanding job. Fighting and spanking are poor ways to burn off excess energy. And, you're right. The crankies are usually exhaustion.

I'm glad the Obama's send the girls to bed at 8:00. I believe it means they have a greater chance at success.