sleeping teenagers....

[mombrontrent]

We never made them wake up at a certain time. That worked fine in Middle School but by High School they were both involved in Drum Corps and then Marching band, then we usually had a week or two of vacation planned. But they also had jobs to do around the house and didn't take them long to figure out that mowing in 105° heat wasn't fun, so they got up early.

My son likes to wait to start the lawn when it’s almost dark

 

[mjkacmom]

My kids set their schedules, and I don’t make breakfast or lunch. If you have to be at work at 8, get yourself up (da20 worked 8 - 7 most of the summer, sometimes 7 days a week. There were night he stayed out way past midnight. On days off he slept until 2 if he didn’t have plans.

My 3 teens play HS sports, so the last 6 weeks of summer had them practicing every morning 6 days a week (dd15 starts at 6:45 am, dd17 8, ds15 8:45). They rarely go to bed before midnight. Dd17 can’t ever get a job because of sports and Dance, but babysits a lot, 20 hours last weekend, 3 families.

I doubt any of my kids gets more than 6 hours a night, so I let them sleep when they can.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Due to hormones and other physical changes, teenagers go to sleep later and get up later. While screen use might exacerbate this, it is a normal state of being for someone in that age range. This is why high school should start later in the day.

Let them sleep.

http://www.slate.com/articles/healt...p_patterns_why_school_should_start_later.html

 

[mombrontrent]

My kids set their schedules, and I don’t make breakfast or lunch. If you have to be at work at 8, get yourself up (da20 worked 8 - 7 most of the summer, sometimes 7 days a week. There were night he stayed out way past midnight. On days off he slept until 2 if he didn’t have plans.

My 3 teens play HS sports, so the last 6 weeks of summer had them practicing every morning 6 days a week (dd15 starts at 6:45 am, dd17 8, ds15 8:45). They rarely go to bed before midnight. Dd17 can’t ever get a job because of sports and Dance, but babysits a lot, 20 hours last weekend, 3 families.

I doubt any of my kids gets more than 6 hours a night, so I let them sleep when they can.

I don’t make breakfast or lunch either. I do for myself but not anyone else. When I eat breakfast it’s early before anyone else is up so I eat something quick. At lunch I eat leftovers or something quick. The only meal I make is dinner. Every one else fends for themselves during the day. Occasionally I will make a big brunch on a weekend. I also don’t have young children that need help making a simple meal, obviously when they were younger I fed them more meals.

 

[cjbcam]

I let my teenage kids sleep in. They know the lake is always calmer in the morning so if they sleep through wakeboarding/ water skiing weather they don’t get to go. Sometimes they set their alarm or tell their 8 year old brother to wake them if the waters calm. I start back to work a week before them so they are staying at my parents. There will be no sleeping in that week with Grandma watching them. oh well it will get them used to getting up early again for school.

 

[mumto3girls]

In general, I let mine sleep. Oldest is the busiest person in the house. Works full time plus an extra shift or two during the summer—sometimes opening at 4 am, sometimes closing at 12 am and taking an EMT class 3 nights per week plus 4 weekend days. Add in the studying and volunteering and she was never home. When she was I let her sleep no matter what time of day it was.

Middle Dd is 14 and by about 3 days into summer was nocturnal. I let her be, those years are fleeting and soon enough she’ll have a schedule like her older sister. She did have volleyball a few days a week most of the summer at 8 am. She got up those days and then went back to bed.

Youngest is 11. I do wake her up. She is supposed to take the dog for a walk in the morning—her 1 chore. She refuses to do it after dark so she gets the early shift. I still let her sleep until 10 or so.

First day is tomorrow. It will be rough. Oldest two have to be out the door by 7. Youngest about 7:45. They will be miserable for a few days.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

I let them sleep. I work from home, so them sleeping until noon makes (or rather, made...they went back to school today!) my days quieter lol

DS18 spent his 4 years of high school in a constant state of motion and activity - on top of a vigorous class schedule, he also had football camp/preseason practices, then football workouts before school, after-school practice, games, Saturday meetings and recovery practice from 8:30am-noon, surgery his sophomore year with a 10-week recovery, then when football was over in Nov of his senior year, he had surgery 2 weeks later, a 10-week recovery, then got his first job, and had school, work, and lacrosse practice went from 7:30-10pm most nights of the week from Feb-June, so he would work from 4-8pm, then head right to lax practice on work nights. Also after football his senior year, he became a student athletic trainer, so when he wasn't working at his job, he usually stayed after school taping kids up or tending their injuries until his own Lax practice started at 7:30. There were many days he was at his HS from 5:45am-10:00pm.

So when he was actually able, and wanted to stay up and play video games until 2am, or Snapchat with his friends late into the night and sleep until noon the next day, we let him. He's got his...stuff....together, so it's never been an issue with us.

 

[SmallWorld71]

It’s the lay about aspect of it. As teenagers, both my husband and I were expected to hold jobs. I think we were both working full time during the summers by fourteen. My daughter also works every day. Sleeping in during the summers was never part of our reality. I suspect it skews my opinion substantially. We still had fun summers, as does my daughter; but the fun comes after the work day is over.

Mine all work, but not every job starts early in the morning. DS19 worked full time all summer in a busy restaurant kitchen. He usually had to be to work at 4 or 5 pm and got home around midnight. Add in downtime after work and he was heading to bed long after the rest of us were sleeping. He typically got up around noon. I see no reason why I would have deprived him of the sleep the rest of us were getting or gotten upset about it.
Dd15 typically works around noon and she naturally rises earlier, usually around 9.
DH has to be at work at 4:30 am, so his sleep schedule is different as well.
I am the only person in the house who works 'typical' hours.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Hello, just wondering, do you let your tweens, teenagers sleep in during the summer? Or do you rise them up around mid-morning?

Mine has been setting his own schedule, and I enjoy the quiet mornings!

Due to hormones and other physical changes, teenagers go to sleep later and get up later. While screen use might exacerbate this, it is a normal state of being for someone in that age range. This is why high school should start later in the day.

Let them sleep.

http://www.slate.com/articles/healt...p_patterns_why_school_should_start_later.html

I absolutely agree!! During the school year, many students are chronically sleep deprived. They force themselves to get up for school, but still struggle to get to sleep early to match. They're not getting nearly the hours they should. (Mine has always had his growth spurts in the summer, and I firmly believe it's because he finally gets enough sleep!)

I agree with PPs that as long as they have nowhere to be, let them sleep. As a teen, I much preferred staying up late and sleeping in until the afternoon. I grew out of it by end of college. I'm not sure why it would ever be a point of contention - who cares if someone sleeps in? The only benefit to waking them is to keep them on a schedule so its easier to adjust when they go back to school, but after a couple days, they'll adjust on their own anyhow.

Exactly. Sure it will be an adjustment in the fall - but why plan for something unhealthy by starting it sooner?

 

[kenthanson]

I was going to post this but glad you did.

Due to hormones and other physical changes, teenagers go to sleep later and get up later. While screen use might exacerbate this, it is a normal state of being for someone in that age range. This is why high school should start later in the day.

Let them sleep.

http://www.slate.com/articles/healt...p_patterns_why_school_should_start_later.html

 

[NYCgrrl]

I let my now former teens sleep past their normal school time as little as possible during the summer.My feeling was and is that they needed to transition into adulthood.

Get a P/T job; go to sleep away camp; take enrichment classes.
Idle hands and all.

 

[XYSRUS]

Nope. All my kids sleep whenever, work when they have to, get chores done on their clock. My youngest gets up right before I get home from work to get his chores done. Chores get done. 3/4 are gainfully employed. I don’t yell about cleaning the house. Teens run on a different schedule. I almost feel sorry for when school starts and they have to get up early.

 

[Kellykins1218]

I didn't have my glasses on & thought that said slapping teenagers. This thread isn't nearly as fun as I thought it was going to be.

 

[Marchand63]

Let them sleep soon enough they will have to work

 

[marlynnp]

As long as they are taking care of their responsibilities on time, I don't care when they sleep.

 

[Poohforyou]

Unless my 18 year old has to be somewhere, and then she gets herself up, I don't wake her. I'm not home mid morning anyway. I never woke her when she was,younger if she didn't need to be up.

 

[maxaroni]

I always let DS25 sleep in as a teen. I worked but came home at noon and some days he was not up, or just barely up. When he had to get to work, he got up and went. He’d be up half the night, too. Our thinking was that if he got done what he needed to get done, or be at work when he needed to be, so be it. We let him enjoy the time as he has the rest of his life to get up early.

After college, he took a job that was shift work. It was hard as his week would be mixed shifts and he worked 3rd shift quite often. He changed his career path a bit and now is working a more normal weekday schedule, salaried and working weeks 60 hours (he does get comp time). My point is, those teen years fly by, letting him sleep in didn’t make him lazy, or have any other long lasting issues.

To us, it was part of the teen years, the way the teen body works.

 

[bluezy]

Mine all work, but not every job starts early in the morning. DS19 worked full time all summer in a busy restaurant kitchen. He usually had to be to work at 4 or 5 pm and got home around midnight. Add in downtime after work and he was heading to bed long after the rest of us were sleeping. He typically got up around noon. I see no reason why I would have deprived him of the sleep the rest of us were getting or gotten upset about it.
Dd15 typically works around noon and she naturally rises earlier, usually around 9.
DH has to be at work at 4:30 am, so his sleep schedule is different as well.
I am the only person in the house who works 'typical' hours.

Yes, this!!! My 19 yo son works in a warehouse. His shift starts at 2:30 p.m. and goes until all orders have been filled (usually by about 8-9:00 p.m. but sometimes as late as 10:30 p.m.) He's physically exhausted after his shift but usually needs some "down time" or just time to hang out with friends (who work the same shift) when he gets home. He rarely gets to bed before 3:00 a.m. I don't care how long he sleeps as long as he takes care of his household chores and gets to his job on time. And our 18 yo DD works 20-30 hours a week but the place she works at doesn't open until 2:00 or 4:00 p.m. depending on the day. She usually works a 6-7 hour shift so she, too, often gets home late and sleeps late. Again, I don't care as long as household chores are done and she gets to work when she needs to.

Our adult children were also allowed to set their own schedules during the summer and they both had jobs from the time they turned 16. And despite being allowed to set their own schedules in college as well (one of them scheduling all their classes after noon so they could sleep in and the other one scheduling them early in the morning to "get them over with"), they both managed to graduate and get full-time jobs. The early riser has a job that starts at 7:00 a.m. and the late riser is self-employed in a career that allows complete flexibility with hours so he still stays up late and sleeps in.

In my opinion, the teenage years are a great time for kids to figure out what schedule works for them as they transition to college and adulthood. Even my early riser liked to sleep late for some of his teenage years but quickly realized that he preferred an early start to his day.

 

[mom2rtk]

My son likes to wait to start the lawn when it’s almost dark

I bet your neighbors love that.

 

[aprilgail]

mine gets up when she wants to- she has had a job since she was 14 but she doesn't start work until 5 when she is scheduled on so no reason to get up early. Today she got up at 2:30.