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Summer bedtime for the kids
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Get them to bed!
Parenting during the summer has unique challenges. Whether you’re working or at home, the kids need plans. Until they’re old enough to drive and get into all sorts of trouble, someone has to entertain them, or at least give them ideas on how they can entertain themselves.
It wasn’t so long ago (“back when we were kids” makes us sound too old) that children walked out the front door, barely saying goodbye, and went to a friend’s house. The word “playdate” didn’t exist, nor did the term “inside voice”. Mostly during the summer months, kids were outside, without parental supervision, getting dirty, solving their own problems, fearing little, if anything. Although violent crime statistics in Los Angeles are down and child abductions by a complete stranger are rare, the media has bombarded us and we worry about our children’s safety. This is our reality in 2009 and we can’t seem to re-program ourselves and allow our children the kind of freedom that leads to healthy independence. While it’s understandable to want to keep our children safe, what results isn’t always pretty.
There are myriad ramifications to overprotecting our children, especially during the summer. Many don’t get as much exercise as they need. This can often lead to children who aren’t wiped out at the end of the day like we were just a few years back (remember, we’re not old). Getting them to bed at a reasonable hour is about as easy as coaxing a cat into a swimming pool. “You have school tomorrow” isn’t applicable. It’s hard to sound convincing telling them they need their sleep because they’re getting up in the morning to go to camp. “Camp” invokes fun and who needs sleep for that? So it’s 9:30pm and they’re still walking around. You haven’t read them a book because it’s summer and you’ve slipped out of the habit, or maybe they’re old enough to read their own books – except they’re not. They didn’t take a relaxing bath or shower because they insisted that swimming in the pool left them clean. You’re trying to do some work on the computer or read the paper/magazine/a book, or watch a television show that’s entirely inappropriate for just about anyone. Maybe you’d like to enjoy a glass of wine or a beer without seeing your son or daughter from the corner of your eye about to ask you for something. Maybe you just need some “down time” so that your head doesn’t spin around in circles or explode. Your children need to go to bed before you eat them, and not in a “you’re so cute, I want to eat you” kind of way.
The solutions aren’t necessarily easy. Sure, you could give them cold medicine every night, but that’s just bad parenting and possibly addictive. Unlike winter and early darkness, you can’t fool them by setting the clocks ahead. What’s required is often the same structure you apply during the school year – the three Bs – bath, book, bed (and a bottle if applicable, for the infant or you). You can start the whole process maybe half an hour later than usual; it is summer vacation after all. But allowing children to go to bed whenever they want ruins them and you for the next day, and the next day, and the next. Sleep deprivation is serious stuff.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz…….
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