We go out of our way to make certain our children have it all, but do we miss a simple or even novel idea: sleep? A medical article this summer reminded me of how important sleep is for young children. It stated children work at full potential & tend to have better concentration at school when they get their required sleep time. Here are some basic guidelines to go by:
Ages 1-3 12-14 hours
Ages 3-6 10-12 hours
Ages 7-12 10-11 hours
During a recent observation at CMS I could plainly tell which children were tired or could have benefited from having an extra hour of bedtime. Our teachers have to work harder to keep our tired children focused. Also during this observation I was surprised at how many children arrived late, not a minute or two, 20 to 30 minutes would be more precise. I asked the teacher if this was the norm & was quickly told it was indeed. Do we realize how much disruption this causes a classroom? When 3 children are late at three different times in one morning, 5 days a week, a great deal of redirection is required, valuable time where learning could have continued & not 20 some little heads wondering who was coming in.
In arriving early our children have time to prepare for their day & to adjust to their classroom. I know without a doubt we all want the absolute best for our children. Here are two ideas or gifts so to speak that cost us nothing, with rewards to great to calculate: enough sleep & arriving on time or even early.
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