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Holidays and difficult children... exhausting!
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 329364" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Maybe letting him sleep in next day is part of the problem - especially teens, they can rapidly get into bad habits sleep-wise. We're fighting this battle with difficult child 3 at the moment. He will stay up late, sometimes until 3 am (I'm not happy about it) and then want to sleep in next day. And if he sleeps in late, then he is refreshed for longer, can again stay up late (or may even have trouble getting to sleep again) and so it continues.</p><p></p><p>I remember reading some years ago about research into sleep cycles; people who are permitted to set their own day/night sleep/wake schedule when there is no way they can determine whan daytime really is, often fall into a 25 hour day rather than a 24 hour day.</p><p></p><p>What we were told to do with difficult child 3 (and we did it previously with difficult child 1) was to wake him fairly close to the normal rising time, regardless of when he went to bed. And if possible, to discourage him from daytime naps. with difficult child 3 it's not too much difficulty because once he's up, he tends to stay up until bedtime. Our problems are worse when we have to go out early and leave difficult child 3 on his own. Today for example - it's still holidays here, husband & I had planned an early start to get to the stores, difficult child 3 had told us he didn't want to come. We woke him as we left, told him to get up and take his medications, although I didn't have a lot of faith that he would do this. And as we discovered alter, he did roll over and go back to sleep. husband rang home late morning to find difficult child 3 playing computer games (as usual) and asked him, "have you had your medications yet? Then go take them NOW." We needed difficult child 3 to take some measurements for us. </p><p>We got home at about 3.30 pm, difficult child 3 had of course forgotten to have lunch. Our arrival home broke his concentration on his games and he realised he was hungry. I know, because at least he remembered the risotto I'd left for him to reheat, he brought it to me to ask how long to heat it in the microwave oven.</p><p>It's almost 11 pm and he is still up. He may be in bed before midnight. I hope so.</p><p>Tomorrow I will be home and I will make a point of waking him, and making sure he gets up, by 9 am. I have found that when I do this, he is more likely to be in bed earlier that night.</p><p>Letting him sleep himself out is not a good idea. Not only does it disrupt his sleep cycle ongoing, but it also avoids the natural consequences of him having a late night. Life does not generally allow us to indulge ourselves with a sleep-in after a late night - our responsibilities generally mean we have to get up at the usual time and go to work. Or look after the kids. So don't let him sleep in too long. Maybe compromise and give him an extra half hour, as long as there is nothing planned for that day. Otherwise - life goes on, kiddo. You have to go on with it or get left behind.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 329364, member: 1991"] Maybe letting him sleep in next day is part of the problem - especially teens, they can rapidly get into bad habits sleep-wise. We're fighting this battle with difficult child 3 at the moment. He will stay up late, sometimes until 3 am (I'm not happy about it) and then want to sleep in next day. And if he sleeps in late, then he is refreshed for longer, can again stay up late (or may even have trouble getting to sleep again) and so it continues. I remember reading some years ago about research into sleep cycles; people who are permitted to set their own day/night sleep/wake schedule when there is no way they can determine whan daytime really is, often fall into a 25 hour day rather than a 24 hour day. What we were told to do with difficult child 3 (and we did it previously with difficult child 1) was to wake him fairly close to the normal rising time, regardless of when he went to bed. And if possible, to discourage him from daytime naps. with difficult child 3 it's not too much difficulty because once he's up, he tends to stay up until bedtime. Our problems are worse when we have to go out early and leave difficult child 3 on his own. Today for example - it's still holidays here, husband & I had planned an early start to get to the stores, difficult child 3 had told us he didn't want to come. We woke him as we left, told him to get up and take his medications, although I didn't have a lot of faith that he would do this. And as we discovered alter, he did roll over and go back to sleep. husband rang home late morning to find difficult child 3 playing computer games (as usual) and asked him, "have you had your medications yet? Then go take them NOW." We needed difficult child 3 to take some measurements for us. We got home at about 3.30 pm, difficult child 3 had of course forgotten to have lunch. Our arrival home broke his concentration on his games and he realised he was hungry. I know, because at least he remembered the risotto I'd left for him to reheat, he brought it to me to ask how long to heat it in the microwave oven. It's almost 11 pm and he is still up. He may be in bed before midnight. I hope so. Tomorrow I will be home and I will make a point of waking him, and making sure he gets up, by 9 am. I have found that when I do this, he is more likely to be in bed earlier that night. Letting him sleep himself out is not a good idea. Not only does it disrupt his sleep cycle ongoing, but it also avoids the natural consequences of him having a late night. Life does not generally allow us to indulge ourselves with a sleep-in after a late night - our responsibilities generally mean we have to get up at the usual time and go to work. Or look after the kids. So don't let him sleep in too long. Maybe compromise and give him an extra half hour, as long as there is nothing planned for that day. Otherwise - life goes on, kiddo. You have to go on with it or get left behind. Marg [/QUOTE]
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