Home Behavior Affecting School

A Critical Part of Your Child's Education

There is something affecting your child’s education that we, as educators, have very little control over here at school. This home behavior can impair overall functioning, cause fatigue, lead to poorer health and weaker immune system functioning, mimic or exacerbate ADHD-symptoms (e.g., struggling to calm down, concentrate, and listen to directions), increased emotional lability, lead to daily cognitive deficits and problem-solving ability, increase risk of accidental injury, and lead to increased risk of developing anxiety and depression later in life. Pretty scary, huh? And this is all occurring at home.

Yes, these are all real, and associated with poor sleep patterns and hygiene. Yes, sleep. In the commotion between extracurricular activities, video games, iPads, getting dinner on the table, and spending some time completing homework, we often talk about not getting enough of it, as it is one of the first things to ‘go out the window,’ for your child (and maybe you too), in the busy lives that we all live.

Based on the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, children 3- to 5-years of age should sleep 10- to 13-hours, children 6- to 12- years of age should sleep 9- to 12-hours, and teenagers 13- to 18-years of age should sleep 8- to 10-hours. However, when discussing sleep hygiene with my students this year, most reported far less sleep, on average, each night.

There are a few simple questions that you can ask to see if your child is getting sufficient sleep:

1. Does my child need to be woken by me (or an alarm), rather than wake up on their own, each morning?
2. Does my child struggle for more than 15 minutes to get going each morning?
3. Is my child sleeping several more hours per night on weekends or when on vacation?
4. Does my child fall asleep during sedentary activities, such as sitting in class, reading, or watching television?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, it is likely that your child is not getting a sufficient amount of sleep each night. While children and adolescents with sleep disorders may require professional treatment, there are actionable steps that parents can take to improve their children’s sleep hygiene:

·  Limit ‘screen time’ and other bright lights about 1.5- to 2-hours before bed. Bright lights (with some evidence of the increased ‘blue light’ of tablets and computers) affect the natural (circadian) rhythm.

·  For children that resist going to bed at night, create a healthy bedtime routine of three to five quiet activities, that all flow towards the bedroom (e.g., family room to bathroom to bedroom). Keep the same order each night.

·  For children that frequently get out of bed (e.g., for an additional ‘hug,’ water, or some other activity) provide a limited number of bed passes (e.g., three passes) each night. The child is permitted to use the passes for their chosen brief activity, but are not allowed to leave their beds once all passes are used. Provide rewards and incentives for any remaining passes that are not used each morning.

·  For teenagers and adolescents with a delayed circadian rhythm (e.g., staying up at night later and sleeping later into the morning), utilize a gentle phase advance where they gradually shift their bedtimes earlier in 15-minute increments.

·  Keep a sleep diary to monitor when a child falls asleep at night, wakes in the morning, and any other instance of sleeping throughout the day.