Resetting Sleep Schedules for School

August is our "Get Ready for School" month. School in the Pacific Northwest typically starts the Tuesday after Labor Day, so this gives me time to get all the little things done to start the year off on the right foot. The piece that takes the longest is always resetting the kids sleep and wake schedules. Even with Mommy's Summer School going, we relax sleep and wake times in the summer, mostly because daylight hours are so long and it's hard to convince the kids to go to bed when the twilight hours last past 9 o'clock.

Sleep is one of the pillars of good health. According to the Cleveland Clinic, studies have linked inadequate sleep to mood swings, difficulties with memory and cognitive skills, poor academic performance, and poor eating habits and weight issues. As a parent, it is crucial for met to set boundaries around sleep so that my kids are able to succeed in school.

When reseting sleep/wake cycles, whether for school or time changes, it's always best to do a little at a time. Once we figure out what our goal bed time is, I will move their current time back in 15-30 minute increments, depending on how far we have to go.

Last night at dinner, we talked about the overall plan for getting everybody ready and that it was time to bring back bedtimes. After the groaning stopped, I was able to explain the 4 questions that we need to answer this week to give time to gradual reset their times.

The Four Questions:

1. How much time is needed to get ready in the morning?

2. What time do we need to leave to get to school/bus stop?

3. What time do you need to get up?

4. What time do you need to get to sleep?

Getting ready in the morning

What this means is different for every family and sometimes even for different members of the same family. This is basically a detailed list of all the things needed to get each person ready and out the door and any housekeeping tasks/chores. For our family that means, each person is awake, goes to the bathroom, gets dressed, has breakfast, takes care of pets, brushes their teeth, and styles their hair for the day. Our kids rotate who is in charge of loading the dishwasher and who is in charge of putting away the clean ones. If there is time, this task will also be added to the "to do" list so that breakfast dishes can be cleaned before leaving.

This week the kids are setting stopwatches to measure how long the "to do" list takes them. I know from previous years, that we can get away with 30 minutes, but that usually means I'm so busy hustling them around, that I'm not as put together as I would like for work. 45 minutes is doable if the next day's clothes and backpacks were packed the night before, but an hour has worked best. As the kids are getting older and need less help with getting ready, it will be interesting to see if the amount of time they need has changed.

What time do we need to leave to get to the school/bus stop?

This is another one that is going to be different for every family. How do your kids get to school? If riding the bus, pick up time is determined by the transportation company (city bus, school district, contracted bus system). A general rule of thumb is to be ready at the stop 5-10 minutes prior to the time they give you in case they arrive a little early for any reason. If by car (car pool, friend, or you take them) calculate the longest commute time with typical traffic (this can be tricky depending on where you live) and then add 5 minutes. I know that I have driven to our school in 12 minutes, but it usually takes 15, but there might be tractors on the road and it can be really hard to get through one of the intersections, so I calculate for 20 minutes of travel time. We need to be at the school by 7:15, so I set an alarm on my phone for everybody in the car at 6:55. I aim to get everyone in the car at 6:50, but the alarm helps keep us on target if something goes wrong in the morning or I get lost in my cup of coffee.

What time do you need to get up?

This can very for different family members, but it is simply a matter of taking the time you need to leave and subtracting the time it takes each person to get ready. Whoever takes the longest gets woken up first and they learn pretty quickly if they want to sleep in a little longer, then they shouldn't dawdle in the morning.

What time do you need to get to sleep?

Again this will be different for each family member as developmental stage determines the amount of total sleep needed. To find the sleep time, subtract the amount of sleep needed from the wake time and I like to add in a 20-30 minute buffer zone as kids don't automatically fall asleep when you tuck them in. Sleep recommendations also come with a range, if you find a family member on the lower end of the range, that may work for them. As long as they are waking up the first time you try to get them up, don't complain about being tired through the day, or need to do any extra sleeping on non-school days. For older children, this also means no more needing a nap to get through the day as well.

Below are the sleep needs based on developmental stage according to CDC guidance.

Total Sleep Needs (naps +nighttime sleep)

• Newborns (0-3 months) need the most sleep with a total time of 14-17 hours

• Infants (4-12 months) need 12-16 hours

• Toddlers (1-2 years) need 11-14 hours

• Preschool Age children (3-5 years), with or without naps, need 10-13 hours

• School Age children (5-12 years) need 9-12 hours

• Teenagers (13-18 years) need 8-10 hours

• Adults (19-64) need 7-9 hours

• Seniors (65+) need 7-8 hours

Our kids are all in the school age range, but the youngest needs close to 10 hours, the middle one 9 hours, and the oldest who is transitioning into teen years is somewhere in between. Once we've determined bedtimes, we also reinforce a healthy bedtime routine, another thing that gets a little wonky in the summer months. More about that later.