For parents of school-aged children in Orange County, it can pose a challenge trying to get your young ones their eight hours a night. With school, homework, extracurricular activities, and the constant desire to hang out with friends, when do kids find the time to get any rest?
As parents, it is essential that you lay down the law as to when bedtime is and how late your kids can stay out. Even homework and studying need to take a backseat sometimes if sleep is being sacrificed. Growing young bodies crave sleep, and it is the responsibility of both the children and their parents to maintain healthy patterns.
The Link Between Sleep and Learning
Some children in Orange County seem to have trouble keeping up with their studies, or they appear to learn at a slower pace than the others. Before leaping to the conclusion that a developmental disorder is the culprit, parents should have a look at how much sleep their child is getting.
New information can be processed better when a young mind is sufficiently rested. Inadequate sleep can cause a child to struggle with alertness, and they won’t be able to form new memories as easily. Consequently, their grades will suffer.
Reasons for Poor Sleep
As this is the case, children need to figure out how best to get at least eight hours per night, and parents can help them with this too.
Regular bedtimes are a suitable place to start, and parents should check their child’s mattress and ask them if it is still comfortable for them if it is more than a few years old. Children grow fast, so if an old mattress is worn out or lumpy, it’s time to head to the mattress stores to get a new one.
Kids in Orange County also develop better sleep habits if they exercise. If they take gym classes at school, that’s helpful, but they may also wish to pursue an outside interest that provides a physical outlet for them.
Team sports help a young person blow off some steam. They’ll sleep better, and many studies have shown that children who take sports also do better academically.
With all this mind, Orange County parents should talk to their kids about the importance of sleep. If a rigid bedtime needs to be enforced, then there’s nothing wrong with that. Parents, you want to establish a good relationship with your kids, but at the same time, discipline is required if you feel they aren’t getting the sleep they need.
If you stand firm on this issue, it is highly likely that you’ll see in improvement in grades and attitude. Kids that aren’t sleeping well find it hard to function and handle their responsibilities, just as is true for adults.