Sleeping habits
freepsgal
We transitioned into the radical unschooling lifestyle a couple of
months ago. My DH is totally supportive, but does have one
concern. Our children, ages 8 and 9, enjoy staying up really late,
then sleeping late in the mornings. Originally, my DH's concern was
because the kids usually make too much noise for him to sleep and
he's the only one of us who is on a strict schedule. He goes to bed
around 11:00pm and wakes up at 6:30am to get ready for work. So we
talked to the kids, who totally understood the need for Dad to have
quiet when he's sleeping, and everything has been fine. We've only
had one incident where the kids set off our house alarm on accident,
and it scared them to pieces!! So now we don't set the alarm until
I hear the kids going to bed.
However, my DH is worried about the habits they might be forming.
They are staying up until 1:00am, sometimes 2:00am, every night.
They don't wake until 10:30 or 11:00am in the mornings. My DH is
worried that these hours will affect their health if they don't get
enough rest. I believe they are getting enough rest though because
they are sleeping until they wake up on their own.
They've had a scheduled bedtime for years. Although we enforced
the 'in your room at a certain time' part of bedtime, we had no
problems with them being awake reading for hours which is often what
happened. That's what helped me convince DH that their bedtime was
so silly. They never went to sleep before midnight anyway, so why
force them to be in their rooms? It felt wrong. I'm thinking that
they feel a need to catch up on the things they couldn't do before
because they were in bed. Of course, I know there are people who
have natural rhythms that keep them active in the evenings and
sleeping all morning. That's not necessarily a bad thing.
Right? :)
Beth M.
months ago. My DH is totally supportive, but does have one
concern. Our children, ages 8 and 9, enjoy staying up really late,
then sleeping late in the mornings. Originally, my DH's concern was
because the kids usually make too much noise for him to sleep and
he's the only one of us who is on a strict schedule. He goes to bed
around 11:00pm and wakes up at 6:30am to get ready for work. So we
talked to the kids, who totally understood the need for Dad to have
quiet when he's sleeping, and everything has been fine. We've only
had one incident where the kids set off our house alarm on accident,
and it scared them to pieces!! So now we don't set the alarm until
I hear the kids going to bed.
However, my DH is worried about the habits they might be forming.
They are staying up until 1:00am, sometimes 2:00am, every night.
They don't wake until 10:30 or 11:00am in the mornings. My DH is
worried that these hours will affect their health if they don't get
enough rest. I believe they are getting enough rest though because
they are sleeping until they wake up on their own.
They've had a scheduled bedtime for years. Although we enforced
the 'in your room at a certain time' part of bedtime, we had no
problems with them being awake reading for hours which is often what
happened. That's what helped me convince DH that their bedtime was
so silly. They never went to sleep before midnight anyway, so why
force them to be in their rooms? It felt wrong. I'm thinking that
they feel a need to catch up on the things they couldn't do before
because they were in bed. Of course, I know there are people who
have natural rhythms that keep them active in the evenings and
sleeping all morning. That's not necessarily a bad thing.
Right? :)
Beth M.
Pampered Chef Michelle
On 5/1/06, freepsgal <freepsgal@...> wrote:
However, my DH is worried about the habits they might be forming.
better/more sleep than dad. :) When my girls were allowed to have control
over their sleep patterns they were staying up until 1, 2, sometimes 3 am
and getting up at 10, 11, noon. After a while they started listening to
their bodies after they realized that no one was going to make them go to
bed. Now Mary Elayne goes to bed each night around 11-11:30 on her own and
Emily stays up until 1 or 2 (sometimes still 3) but that is when she does
the majority of her writing - the house is quiet, no disturbances, she can
think. If they know we have something going on the next day they will
decide if they want to go to bed earlier or just deal with being tired the
next day. It all works out in the end. They enjoy going to resource day or
our little Funschool that just finished for the year and chose to get up for
it whether they had 9 or 5 hours of sleep. There were a few times when
Emily opted to not go and several times the kids would go and come home and
catch a nap.
Rest is what is important, not necessarily sleep. Sleep has its purposes,
but many people find that just sitting and relaxing a for a while is as
invigorating as a full sleep cycle.
--
Michelle
Independent Kitchen Consultant #413652
The Pampered Chef
850-474-0817
http://www.pamperedchef.biz/michellelr
Ask me how you can save 60% on some of our most favorite products!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>That's 7.5 hours of sleep.
> He goes to bed
> around 11:00pm and wakes up at 6:30am to get ready for work.
However, my DH is worried about the habits they might be forming.
> They are staying up until 1:00am, sometimes 2:00am, every night.That looks like 9 to 10 hours of sleep. It looks like the kids are getting
> They don't wake until 10:30 or 11:00am in the mornings.
better/more sleep than dad. :) When my girls were allowed to have control
over their sleep patterns they were staying up until 1, 2, sometimes 3 am
and getting up at 10, 11, noon. After a while they started listening to
their bodies after they realized that no one was going to make them go to
bed. Now Mary Elayne goes to bed each night around 11-11:30 on her own and
Emily stays up until 1 or 2 (sometimes still 3) but that is when she does
the majority of her writing - the house is quiet, no disturbances, she can
think. If they know we have something going on the next day they will
decide if they want to go to bed earlier or just deal with being tired the
next day. It all works out in the end. They enjoy going to resource day or
our little Funschool that just finished for the year and chose to get up for
it whether they had 9 or 5 hours of sleep. There were a few times when
Emily opted to not go and several times the kids would go and come home and
catch a nap.
Rest is what is important, not necessarily sleep. Sleep has its purposes,
but many people find that just sitting and relaxing a for a while is as
invigorating as a full sleep cycle.
--
Michelle
Independent Kitchen Consultant #413652
The Pampered Chef
850-474-0817
http://www.pamperedchef.biz/michellelr
Ask me how you can save 60% on some of our most favorite products!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
freepsgal
> It looks like the kids are getting better/more sleep than dad.*lol* That's true! I didn't even look at it that way. I guess we're
so steeped in that traditional mode of kids going to bed early to wake
up early for school. I'll point that out to my DH and maybe he'll
feel better about it.
Both kids are now awake and they seem happy to me. They don't look
overly tired or dragging, something that I think happens to my DH when
he has to wake up really early in the mornings. I am grateful that he
doesn't begrudge us our opportunity to set our own sleeping patterns.
He doesn't have a problem with my staying up later than him or the
fact that he can leave for work in the mornings while we're all still
asleep. He's cool that way. :)
Beth M.
Mara Vazquez-Rest
Hi,
most people in our house stay up real late too - I
remember being in Cuba and the kids there were often
running around until late into the night and then
sleeping late. SAme with Spain. Maybe it is more
natural there because it is so hot in the day and
cooler at night -?
I wonder about the same things you do too though,
especially for the younger ones.
Mara
--- freepsgal <freepsgal@...> wrote:
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most people in our house stay up real late too - I
remember being in Cuba and the kids there were often
running around until late into the night and then
sleeping late. SAme with Spain. Maybe it is more
natural there because it is so hot in the day and
cooler at night -?
I wonder about the same things you do too though,
especially for the younger ones.
Mara
--- freepsgal <freepsgal@...> wrote:
> We transitioned into the radical unschooling__________________________________________________
> lifestyle a couple of
> months ago. My DH is totally supportive, but does
> have one
> concern. Our children, ages 8 and 9, enjoy staying
> up really late,
> then sleeping late in the mornings. Originally, my
> DH's concern was
> because the kids usually make too much noise for him
> to sleep and
> he's the only one of us who is on a strict schedule.
> He goes to bed
> around 11:00pm and wakes up at 6:30am to get ready
> for work. So we
> talked to the kids, who totally understood the need
> for Dad to have
> quiet when he's sleeping, and everything has been
> fine. We've only
> had one incident where the kids set off our house
> alarm on accident,
> and it scared them to pieces!! So now we don't set
> the alarm until
> I hear the kids going to bed.
>
> However, my DH is worried about the habits they
> might be forming.
> They are staying up until 1:00am, sometimes 2:00am,
> every night.
> They don't wake until 10:30 or 11:00am in the
> mornings. My DH is
> worried that these hours will affect their health if
> they don't get
> enough rest. I believe they are getting enough rest
> though because
> they are sleeping until they wake up on their own.
>
> They've had a scheduled bedtime for years. Although
> we enforced
> the 'in your room at a certain time' part of
> bedtime, we had no
> problems with them being awake reading for hours
> which is often what
> happened. That's what helped me convince DH that
> their bedtime was
> so silly. They never went to sleep before midnight
> anyway, so why
> force them to be in their rooms? It felt wrong.
> I'm thinking that
> they feel a need to catch up on the things they
> couldn't do before
> because they were in bed. Of course, I know there
> are people who
> have natural rhythms that keep them active in the
> evenings and
> sleeping all morning. That's not necessarily a bad
> thing.
> Right? :)
>
> Beth M.
>
>
>
>
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