Parents How much sleep does your gymnast get in a weeknight?

[vagymmomma]

Mine is older but 7 hours of sleep is a fantastic night during the week. Many nights are 6 hours between practice and homework. School is a lot more demanding in high school and I can see now why some girls just burn out. Bus pick up here was moved from 6:30 to 7:30 this year for high schoolers, but it was a huge expense.

 

[samsmama]

Yes, this. We live in an area with really high teen suicide rates. These kids are pushed into exhaustion, depression, self-doubt. All without a good reason. Going from prep to ivy isn't worth anyone's health or life. It's sad. My ODD would have had school (hs) from 7 to 3:30 this year. She would have had to get up at 6am and probably would have been lucky to get 6.5 hours of sleep per night.

I just read an article about this (maybe not your area, but sounds similar) and it scared the crap out of me. My kids aren't at this point yet, but it really has me thinking about making sure they get enough sleep now and throughout HS. We also live in a pretty high-pressure area where I hear a lot of parents talking about making sure their DC is in the "right" HS or college.

Here's the article if anyone's interested: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/12/the-silicon-valley-suicides/413140/

DS (almost 9) doesn't get as much sleep as I'd like. He's in bed by 9 on non-gym nights, probably asleep by 9:30, then up at 7. On gym nights it's closer to 10 and I can tell he's tired by the end of the week. He's only in 3rd grade now, but I worry how we'll handle the increased hours + more homework in a few years.

 

[txgymfan]

I get home from school at 3ish and do my homework until 4:20, when I start getting ready for the gym. Then I get home at 8:30ish and eat dinner/rinse off in the shower/then finish homework. I usually can't be in bed until 10 at the earliest. It's usually about 11 that I am in bed and asleep. My bus comes at 6:55 and I wake up at 6:10- shower, dress, hair, eat. I need more sleep...[/

Please do not post in the parent forum unless you are a parent or in a parent like situation. Gymnasts and coaches have their own forums and we encourage parents to stay off those too.

 

[Scotsgirl]

Dd gets up at 7.15 school begins at 9 and ends at 3 , home , snack and changed gym is at 4 until 7.30 . We have dinner when she gets home then its pyjamas and bed for or just before 9pm . At the weekend both dd and ds wake themselves at 7, so this tells me they are fine with the amount of sleep as they are bouncing about the house at this time on the weekends. DD goes to homework club each day for 15 minutes during lunch so homework is never an issue.

 

[refugee]

For younger kid:

• 6th grade, public school, bus pickup @ 8am, school till 3pm, gym from 4-8 M-F (L8). She probably slept from 10:30p to 7a, so 8.5 hrs/night
• 7th & 8th grade, private school, 2x/day training 3 days/week, 1x/day training 3 days/wk (L9 & 10). Wake at 6am, practice started at 7am, usually home by 5 or 6pm, to sleep by 9p (7th gr) or 10p (8th gr), so 8-9 hrs/night
• 9th & 10th grade, private school, 2x/day training 3 days/wk, 1x/day 3 days/wk. home by 6:30 most nights or 7:30 (1 nt/wk). homework usually done by 11, wake at 6:15 for 7am carpool. So we're down to 7 hrs/nt, but she also naps on the rides home (45-60 min, depending on car pool route)
• 11th & 12th gr...TBD. training will drop to 1x/day. There's a desire to go to public school for 11th & 12th gr, but the homework (make work) load is troubling. Older sister (no longer in gym) is up till 1 or 2am many nights per week (though she is also in the demanding IB program). We shall see!

 

[JoyAvenueMom]

Kipper sleeps about 9 hours per night, but probably needs 10. She is in bed by 10pm and up at 7am. I try to get her in bed earlier on Sat/Sun, but that's often a tough battle. This is one reason I say "no" to most sleepovers. There is just so little time to make up the sleep she misses. On rare non-gym Saturdays, she sleeps until 9:30 or 10am. (up to 12 hours) So, I know she could use more sleep! We're lucky to have great teachers who allow her to do most of her homework over the weekend. This minimizes the need to stay up even later to do hw. I would encourage everyone to at least ask your child's teacher(s) for some special consideration if you haven't already. It's made a huge difference for us.

 

[twinmomma]

My kids are in a K-8 high performing public school, but I wouldn't call it "high pressure". I consider their school times (8-2:30) reasonable. We are very lucky as a family that because my wife and I work opposite shifts (I work days, my wife works graveyard) we do not have after school care, so our kids go from school straight home. They get two hours of snack and homework/free time before my DD has to go to gym on gym nights. Her gym time ends at 8:30, and while that's on the later side, it's really my kids' inability to be on task after gym that throws us off. It shouldn't take them 30 min to shower but it does. LOL

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

Link Removed

This is not the article I read a couple of months ago, but similar I think.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

Link Removed

This is not the article I read a couple of months ago, but similar I think.

Link Removed

This is not the article I read a couple of months ago, but similar I think.

Edited because I forgot to type what I wanted to say. Sleep deprived mom, lol.

Dd is lucky to go to a high performing athlete program in the public school system. She wakes at 7:00, gets picked up by her carpool at 8:00.

School is 8:45 to 11:45, then catches bus to the gym. Training is 1:00-6:00 M-F.

I pick her up, we are home by about 7:00 for dinner, downtime, etc. She has a semi-strict bedtime of 9:00, but pushes it to 9:30 quite often, lol.

So she is getting 9 1/2 hours a night, and does sleep in most weekends. She is 11 turning 12 this year in grade 7.

 

[kimute]

What seems different about my DD from the posts above is her lack of downtime. She is craving it. But needs sleep more. A lot of it. She wakes up at 8:00 for school at 8:30 (5 min commute). She finishes gym at 8:45 and is in bed by 9:45 (car dinner). She is 9, trains 20 hrs.

M, W: 8:30-8:00: 11.5 hrs.
T, Th: 9:45-8:00: 10.15 hrs.
F: 10:00-10:00 or later: 12+ hrs.
S: 9:30-10:00 or later: 11.5+ hrs.
Sun: 8:30-8:00: 11.5 hrs.

She/I wish she needed less sleep, but she gets up with an alarm on school days, not on her own.

 

[Flossyduck]

I don't think our situation is too bad, especially compared to lots of yours, but I still worry because dd likes her sleep as eh is getting older:

They get up at 7.30 to be at school for 8.30. They go a homework club after school until 4.30pm, so get all homework done there. They have food in the car on the way from school to gym (cooked lunch at school so pack-up is fine). We're home for 9.30-10ish and in bed soon after. She's having to spend a bit more time in the bathroom these days, as she has hormonal skin and braces!

So generally about 9 hours sleep each night, which I think should be ok, but she slept until 11.30am this morning, so I know she would like more. And it's 14 hours out of the house, so down time is restricted to her one night off and weekends. On the up side - no homework at home. Home is for chilling and family time.

 

[Gymmom826]

Just wondering if my dd is the only one this short on sleep. Gymnastics is her only after school activity, but the school workload is huge so she does work at recess and sometimes during lunch them goes right to the books when she gets home, has dinner, and then hits the gym every day from 5:30 until 9. She finishes up schoolwork when she gets home. Sometimes she has to leave the gym early to get the work done. Despite the tight time management she barely gets 7.5 hours of sleep a night during the week. She is growing well, and has consistently been on honor roll since 5th grade (in 7th now), but the shortage of sleep concerns me. How much sleep does your gymmie get?

My dd gets nine hours of sleep. If she sleeps on her way home from the gym it's 10 hours because it's an hour ride home. What helps is her teacher lets her do her homework at school during recess so she doesn't have to do it when she gets home because she wasn't getting to bed until 11:30 some nights..

 

[ShesAMonkey]

DD is 12 and in 7th grade. She practices most nights till 9:00, then 30 minute car ride home. Quick snack, shower, then off to bed hopefully by 10. She has to be up at 6:00 as we leave the house shortly after 7 for school. So, 8 hours if we are lucky. And there is not much sleeping in on the weekend, as practice starts at 8 on Saturdays (till noon) and church on Sunday.

 

[lovegymnastics22]

What seems different about my DD from the posts above is her lack of downtime. She is craving it. But needs sleep more.

I agree with this. It is a tough battle between giving my kid downtime-- playing with brother, reading, TV, playdates, etc.-- and getting her more sleep. I agree that physically she needs sleep more, but mentally she needs the downtime just as much.

 

[Alie21]

Goodness - there seems like some shocking amounts of Homework out there for some

DD is 8 and in 3rd grade (actually almost done with this school year!)
Gym is 3 night/week from 4-8. Home by 8:15 or so then get a snack, occasional shower, quick read and lights out around 8:30-9:00. She wakes up anywhere between 7 and 8:30, so usually gets around 10 - 11 hours of sleep.

One of her non-gym night she has Scouts which goes until 8:30 so this is her latest night, my goal is for her to be in bed by 9:00 but sometimes they run late. No reading/snack that night and she is mostly cool with it otherwise she won't be allowed to go!

We don't have much homework, just a little on-line math, reading (her favourite anyway) and either a sheet of creative thinking which is fun or a project style task which she gets 2-3 weeks so can be done on the weekends. The other tasks all get done in the mornings. Neither of my kids are any good at concentrating after school! Schools set different amounts of homework - we are lucky that our school listens to the parents/research and doesn't set much. Lots of kids do extra tutoring outside of school too in our area - I don't see much point.

My main problem with her schedule is my 6YO DS He really has trouble concentrating when he doesn't get enough sleep. He needs less than her but has issues winding down from any excitement. We have now worked out a schedule between us and friends so he doesn't have to be dragged out for her pick-ups and everything is working much more smoothly. Hopefully by the time his schedule goes later his older body can cope!

 

[Alie21]

DD is 12 and in 7th grade. She practices most nights till 9:00, then 30 minute car ride home. Quick snack, shower, then off to bed hopefully by 10. She has to be up at 6:00 as we leave the house shortly after 7 for school. So, 8 hours if we are lucky. And there is not much sleeping in on the weekend, as practice starts at 8 on Saturdays (till noon) and church on Sunday.

Wow! I need more sleep than this

 

[Greyhound]

Thanks for all of your responses. Seems like our school district is more on the heavy side of schoolwork. There is at least 2 hours of homework every night, at least 2 tests or quizzes a week, and projects. DD made honor roll again last week on report card, but she is exhausted. Her math teacher noticed she was tired and asked her what time she goes to bed. He almost had a heart attack when she told him.