With a new school year just days away, Interior Health said now’s the time for parents to start getting their children back into their regular bedtime routine.
Dr Trent Smith said try to establish both a set time that lights out are expected and some set routines for the half hour leading up to that to help them settle in to get ready to go sleep.
“In terms of getting ready for the school year I think it depends on how out of synch your child’s schedule is. So for those who have really moved their bedtime later in the Summer and are use to sleeping in well into mid-morning, then moving it by an hour a day is helpful.”
Dr Smith thinks the biggest thing is making sure that kids get up, get out of bed and get going.
“If they are use to lying in bed and parents think. oh you didn’t get to bed very easily I should let you sleep in, it just prolongs the process. Whereas if yo get out of bed, put up with being tired for the day it’s more likely that they’ll get to sleep at a reasonable time that evening.”
For those who have more difficulty adjusting Dr. Smith said get the routine going soon.
“Kids that are a little more flexible about it, you may leave it for a day or two but you certainly want to be into this weekend when you’re getting ready for back to school. “
It’s an exciting time of year and that can also contribute to having a bit of a difficult time getting to sleep for the first few days of school.
“I think for parents it’s important that they have expectations but also recognize their children may be having a bit of difficulty for that first week or so as the excitement and anticipation is happening so have some flexibility and understanding, it’s going to be important on the parents side,” Dr. Smith added.
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