Bedtimes

This week at placement I learned about the importance of Bedtime Routines for children. While all living things need sleep for survival, children are amongst the population of creatures that require the most hours of sleep per night. It is evident through classroom participation, activity engagement and the strength of their focus we see per day which children are getting enough sleep at night and who is not.

For my placement I am in a grade 1-2 split class, which generally consists of children between the ages of 6 and 7. According to the National Sleep Foundation, children within the ages of 6-13 years old require 9 to 11 hours of sleep per night (n.d).

Obtaining the proper amount of hours of sleep for children is important for the following reasons:

• Children between these ages are still growing and they are very active

• More hours of sleep will assist in increasing their school performance and memory

• School becomes more demanding around this age (homework, extra curricular activities, etc.) and sleep will aid the children in attending to these matters

Some tips for creating a healthy sleep routine are:

• Teach the children about healthy sleep routines and sleep habits

• Keep the bedroom cool, quiet and dark with little to no distractions (technological devices)

• NO caffeine!

References

National Sleep Foundation. (n.d.). Children and Sleep. Retrieved from http://seneca.libguides.com/c.php?g=20762&p=160696

Zdrodowski, M. (2012, August 7). Bedtimes by Age [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.sleepsisters.com/blog/page/5/