MAG Where did level 1,2 and 3 go?

[RDTmom]

Ours goes to 8 and by the time I get him to shower, eat some food, brush teeth and wind down enough to sleep, it is often 9/9:30pm, which I feel is just too late for him as a barely 8 year old. I think I may push a slightly earlier bedtime on the nights before, when possible, to help. It's definitely been hard on the 6 year old on the team.

 

[Madden3]

Could the youngers practice more directly after school? Or have 2 hour practice or 2.5 rather than three? I suggest talk to coach about options. After that one year, practice times have been more age appropriate at out gym, and I have always thought it was because I made a thing about the sleep issue and backed it up with action. One coach did not get it at all, and even ribbed my son about leaving early, but the HC realized it was a problem and adjusted practice times after that.

 

[RDTmom]

No clue. I have a feeling it would be hard to shift, but we'll see how it plays out. As long as my guy stays focused, we can get him into bed by 9 which isn't awesome, but is okay, especially if he goes to bed a bit earlier on other days.

 

[skschlag]

See, when my ds was younger (6-9) the later hours were easier because he didn't start school until 9. So he could get out of practice at 8:30, home by 9, bed by 9:30, up at 8. Tons of sleep. Now, at 15, he starts school at 730, but practices until 9, and has an hour drive. Sleep is at a premium in our house.....

 

[RDTmom]

Interesting! My kiddo's school starts at 8:35, but he likes to be there for the start of morning recess at 8:15. He's usually getting up about 7/7:15.

 

[2G1B]

Yeah, for us elementary starts at 7:40 I think. We had to be out the door no later than 7:20 to get to school that was less than 5 miles from our house; but the carpool line was crazy. However that was better than doing the bus because the kids had to be at the bus stop at 6:40. People often gave me a hard time about not having my kids on the bus; but I felt that the extra 40 minutes of sleep was worth the hassle.

 

[Madden3]

People often gave me a hard time about not having my kids on the bus; but I felt that the extra 40 minutes of sleep was worth the hassle.

Yes I agree sleep trumps the dubious joys of riding the bus! Funny people would give you a hard time on that. Ugh I hated riding the school bus!

When my boys were in public elementary school the school start time was 8:00 or so, so with the commute they had to be up by 7 at the latest or we would be late. (No buses, it was a charter school.) But the biggest problem was they were naturally super early risers no matter when they went to bed, as in they were usually up around 6! So to make sure they got anywhere near enough sleep we had to try for an 8:30 pm bedtime (as in lights out) school or no school. This was really tough with gym practice but we tried.

Sleep patterns change for teens, generally, they naturally stay up later (literally cannot fall asleep earlier) but then need to sleep later. This is why earlier start for HS is controversial. They still need lots of consecutive sleep- in some cases more hours per night than they did as pre-teens. My 14 year old who was up with the birds before, for the last year at least with a 10 bedtime (at the gym until 9) he easily sleeps until about 8:30 naturally. We have been homeschooling for several years now (not due to gym) and one result is the sleep pressure is lifted to some degree. But, not gone completely, because the late nights are still rough on them, especially my 11 year old who still wakes earlier naturally. We too play catch up with earlier bedtimes on non-practice nights.