This, of course, led to a discussion over how late they’d be able to stay up once school is finished.

“I think we should be able to stay up until at least 11:00,” Andie emphatically told me.

I stared at her. “Are you kidding me?” I said. “I wasn’t even allowed to go to bed that late in high school!”

“Well, at least 10,” she mumbled.

“The thing is, I don’t want you getting too far off of your school schedule unless there’s something special going on,” I said. “When school starts again, it’s just too hard to get back in the swing of things.”

Though this was followed by the typical adolescent plea for sympathy — “But all my friends get to stay up late, even during school!” — the conversation made me wonder how other parents handle the summer vacation sleep schedule. For real, I mean, not just the perception/claims of my sixth grader.

Assuming they don’t have anywhere to be in the morning, do you let your kids stay up later than normal during the summer? If so, how much longer? Does it depend on their age? (For instance, I would never let Logan and Cody stay up very late because they are still at the age where they almost never sleep in, no matter how late they get to bed.)

Thoughts and comments welcome!

I remember night after night of being put to bed as a child and just lying there for what seemed like hours as my mind churned away, processing everything I had thought of or seen or touched or smelled that day. I couldn’t stop it. During the summer, I’d lean over my platform bed, as close as I could to my window, and read until I couldn’t see anymore (I wasn’t allowed to read once I was in bed). That, at least, seemed to help quiet my mind, but typically, I’d be awake long after I was put to bed.

I don’t know if it’s just the way my brain is wired or if it has something to do with being a night owl, but I still have trouble with this now as well. My brain seems to fire itself up at night and if I go to bed too early, which is actually incredibly late for most people, I will just lie there with my mind spinning through everything that’s going on in my life, unless I am drop-dead tired. I haven’t figured out how to get myself to sleep at a reasonable hour either.

Cody struggles with this too. I put him to bed at a decent time, even early, but he’s often awake for 2-3 hours longer. He reads and draws while lying down (I have always let my kids read in bed as long as they want because I think it promotes sleepiness), but most nights, it’s difficult for him to wind down. That little brain is constantly going, going, going. Consequently, mornings are tough for him (boy, do I understand that!) and it takes me about 10 minutes of rubbing his back and gently coaxing him out of bed to get him downstairs because his body is demanding more sleep.

So, if you and/or your child have problems with getting to sleep at night due to a very active brain, do you have any tips on how to help kids settle themselves down and get to sleep at a decent time? Unfortunately, this world doesn’t typically operate on a night owl’s schedule, certainly not for a school-aged child, or this could be workable.

Thanks in advance for any help!

By the time school is over, tempers are running shorter, certain younger folks fall apart at the smallest provocation and everyone is just crabby. If we have to drive somewhere, generally everybody falls asleep.

All this seems to indicate to me that my kids aren’t getting enough sleep.

Which made me wonder: How much sleep do they need anyway? Once upon a time, I was well-educated as far as how much sleep babies need, but I haven’t ever paid much attention to the requirements for school-age kids. Since sleep is so important for kids’ growth, development, behavior and success in school, I want to make sure they’re getting what they need.

I put the boys to bed around 8:00 p.m. and they get up a little bit before 7:00 a.m. Of course, they don’t exactly go right to sleep, especially since they share a room now and keep each other up, so they’re often awake until 9:00 p.m. or later. The girls usually go down around 8:30 p.m., but I let them read for awhile. They also get up a little before 7:00 a.m.

So the boys probably average 10 hours of sleep and the girls between 9-1/2 and 10. I’m guessing that’s not enough.

According to an article on WebMD.com, they may not be getting quite enough shut-eye time in. The site states that 3-6 year-olds need between 10-3/4 and 12 hours per day, while 7-12 year-olds need 10-11 hours per day.

However, an information sheet from The National Sleep Foundation says that kids ages 5-12 need 10-11 hours in dreamland. If that’s the case, then my kids are getting close to what they need.

As with most everything, the amount of sleep a kid needs probably boils down to the individual. Still, I like to see hard and fast figures so I have a number to start with. Most likely, my kids got unlucky and inherited my “needs-more-sleep-than-the-average-person” gene and that’s why it seems like they are often tired.

I’m not sure how to solve this problem. I’ve tried putting the boys to bed at 7:30 instead of 8:00, but it’s very difficult to cram everything into only 3 hours every evening.

Sleep deprivation is an ugly thing. It brings out the worst in kids and thereby the worst in parents as well. For the sake of family harmony, it’s imperative that everyone gets all the zzzzs they need.

Maybe I can get the kids to take a daily nap this summer. Then I can take one too.

Ha. I wish.

Do your kids have any sleep issues? Do they get enough sleep? If the little darlings share a room, do they keep each other awake? If not, tell me how you’re doing that!