If you have kids, then you know that it can be difficult to know when the appropriate time to put them to bed is. Put your kids to bed too early and you risk them being hyper and never getting to sleep, put them to bed late and they’ll be grumpy in the morning and barely able to make it through the day.
The problem is amplified if you are a working parent and want to maximize the amount of time that you get to spend with your kids. Well, we’re here to tell you that you’re not alone in this dilemma. In fact, Wilson Elementary School in Kenosha, Wisconsin, recognized that parents were struggling with this very conundrum and provided a little chart in order to help them out.
The chart is based on the age and the time that the child needs to be up at. For instance, say you have a 6-year-old that has to be awake at 6:30 a.m., the chart will tell you that he has to be asleep by 7:30 p.m. However an 11-year-old who has to be up at 6:30 a.m. is able to stay up until 8:45 p.m.
The chart follows the American Academy of Pediatrics’ sleep recommendations for kids. According to their guidelines, kids aged 3-5 should be getting 10-13 hours of sleep per day whereas kids aged 6-12 are fine with 9-12 hours of sleep per day.
As of now, the chart has 448K shares on Facebook, and for good reason. Getting an adequate amount of sleep per day is vital to the proper development and good health of the whole family. In fact, a recent study conducted by Serene Yoong (Ph.D.) from Hunter New England Population Wallsend in New South Wales, Australia found that young children who do not have a consistent sleep schedule are nearly twice as likely to experience obesity by age 11 than those with set bedtimes.
Another study conducted by Dr. Jon Quach of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and The University of Melbourne found that children who are early to sleep have a better health-related quality of life, and their mothers have improved mental health as compared to children who are late to sleep.
Furthermore in an Australian Sleep Association Conference, Sleep Down Under 2015, recent research was examined which suggests that putting your kids to bed before 8:30 p.m. can help the whole family be better rested and live more balanced lives.
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