Welcome back to reality…the days of sleeping in are over and let me tell you, this is not easy for teenagers. To make matters worse, where the high school used to start at 7:40 a.m., it is now starting at 7:30 a.m. Yes, those 10 minutes really do make a difference to a teen.
I remember when my children were younger it was much easier to get them adjusted back to school hours. I put them to bed earlier and woke them up earlier. Now I don’t have the luxury of putting my children to bed. Sure, I can tell them to get to sleep by a certain time but unless I sit in their bedrooms, I won’t know for sure they are doing it.
And the reality is that this busy mom is usually asleep before 10 p.m. So there is little opportunity for me to check on my teens.
The one thing I can do, however, is wake my children up earlier. I wish I would have started this last week but instead I procrastinated. With my daughter starting her first day of high school on Wednesday and my other two children starting on Thursday, it hasn’t given them much opportunity for an adjustment.
Thankfully I don’t have to do much with my senior. He has been working for the past month, having to start work at 7 a.m. many days so for him, a 7:30 start time is almost a relief.
However, for my 14 and 12-year-old, this isn’t going over so well…and it has only been one day. In fact, my daughter laid in bed for 2 1/2 hours after I had woken her up.
I guess I figure eventually they are going to reach the point where getting up early day after day will cause them to tire out earlier in the evening. It’s probably not the best plan for helping teens readjust their sleeping patterns for the start of the school year but it’s the only one I have.
How do you help your teens readjust their sleep for the start of school?
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Photo by violetwinters in morgueFile