My younger son is asleep as I write this. He may well be asleep as you read it, because he’s been sleeping a lot lately. He’s a teenager, which explains everything. And from where he stands (ummm, lies…) this is still summer vacation and why should he get up at dawn?  Me, I forsee jetlag. When school begins (after Labor Day in New York, which I realize is late compared to much of the country) his body clock will be on Pacific time, accustomed to going to sleep and waking up a good three hours later than necessary.  Getting back into routine is jarring every year – not just for the student who actually has to go to school, but for the parent who has to get him out the door. Over at Momlogic.com, parent educator Jill Spivack gives some tips on how to ease all age groups back into the routine:  Explain to your child that although summer was fun, his or her body needs to be more rested for school. Adjust the wording depending on your kid’s age, but talk about it with even young children.  Know your own child and how sensitive he or she is to fatigue, since some children need more time to adjust.  Don’t wait until the night before school to transition. Preschoolers need 11 hours of sleep and around a week of transitioning back to their old schedule. Elementary-school kids require about 10 hours of sleep and about four days of transitioning. Tweens need around 10 hours of sleep, and teens require around 9. Teens and tweens should also try adjusting a few days before school starts.  Have your kids wind down for at least 30 minutes before bedtime with no TV or computer. This is a good time for baths and brushing teeth.  Avoid giving them caffeine in the evening.  Close the blinds when your children go to sleep at night, but once it’s completely dark outside, go back into their rooms and open the blinds. They’ll have an easier time waking in the morning when it’s already light in their rooms.  All sound and logical advice. But somehow no amount of planning and easing and explaining really has my children ready. This is mostly because no amount of preparing can change the fact that the typical school day does not accommodate most children’s biological clocks. When they are preschoolers, rising with the sun, their classrooms don’t open until 9, or sometimes 10. When they are high schoolers, and don’t really function well until noon, they have to be at the bus stop before 7.  Some school districts have adapted their schedules so that the younger children start earlier and the older ones start later (which has the auxiliary benefit of reducing the rate of car accidents by teen drivers), but that leaves high schools ending later, crunching into team practice time and leading to protests from sports coaches.  How do you transition your children from summer back to school? If you ran the world, how would you schedule the school day? While you are at it, when should summer vacation begin and end? Why have students been back in class for weeks in Florida, while here in the Northeast they don’t start until nine days into September?  Leave your thoughts in the comments below. I am off to wake my son.
After a summer of sleeping in late, children will have to adjust their body clocks when school begins.