Re: Sleep and older children

In article <1145715734.830981.177230@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, shinypenny
says...


Ericka Kammerer wrote:
If the whole family is going to bed at 2am and
waking at noon, and they can still get done what needs
doing that's one thing. If one member of the family is
sleeping until noon, he or she is missing out on a
significant part of family life. I think it creates
distance in the family. You don't get to do as many
things as a family because by the time one member
wakes up, it's too late. So I don't really care if
they get up at 7:30 or 8:00 on a non-school day, but
if they fall into a habit of sleeping until 11:00am
or noon because they're staying up until all hours,
I don't think that's okay. They're missing out on
a lot of family life that way.

We're all slow starters on the weekend. We're too go-go-go all week
long. I like weekends to be for resting/recharging, and having few
commitments.

It's true these days, the older I get, the harder it is for me to sleep
in all that much. But for example this morning I slept in until 9:30.
I'm having my coffee and lounging in bed with my laptop, taking my
sweet time waking up. Kids aren't here with us today, but if they were,
they'd just be getting up now. None of us are talkative for the first
few hours in the morning anyway, so forget quality family time in the
morning. Nobody's missing anything around here if they sleep in past
noon.

My family (just me and my son) has always been like that, too.

But, if what should have been a quick trip to get some clothes for the upcoming
band concert (those black slacks only worn for that, and he's grown three inches
since last fall) soaks the whole afternoon because Mr. Beauty Sleep is up at
noon and slow and grumpty 'till 1:30 pm, things do tend to fall apart.

Plus, like when I was younger, a sleeping-late habit just gets later and later.
Somewhere along the line a limit has to be set, or the day will start at 4pm!
Seriously.

So I split the difference and get him up at about 10:00 am on days like that.
This accomodates both the neighborhood late-evening 'manhunt' games and the next
day.

Although this morning, he's back just last night from his class trip to D.C.,
and I'm letting him sleep in 'till noon.


That's how I like weekends - we're never out the door before noon. On
purpose I do not schedule any activities before noon, having learned
the hard way that it sucks to have to be ready and rush out the door on
a weekend morning for tennis or swimming or whatever. We all just end
up stressed and grumpy. On the weekends we just want a break from all
that. We go out as a family when everyone is ready, even if we have to
wait around for the laggards, that's okay, because I hate having to
crack the whip and keep everyone on schedule on the weekends.

Well, it only works if *everyone* in the household is pretty much that way.
And, since the rest of the world is geared earlier, you can find yourself
catching the only straggling last activities of a local fair, and things like
that.


This was how it was for me growing up too. My mother was and still is a
serious night owl. She never minded us staying up until dawn reading in
bed, and then sleeping in well past lunchtime, because she did the same
thing herself. In summers we didn't go to camp or anything like that.
During school year we also didn't have any extracurricular activities,
not like my kids have today, nor did we attend afterschool. Pace was
slower and less stressful, and it continues like that when we visit my
parents in the summer.

I can definitely see where you're coming from. But I still find that in the
long run things get bogged down unless I set some kind of mid-morning start
time.

Cheers,
Banty


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