Is there enough sleeping going on in your home?

As I sit here totally wiped out at 3:30pm in the afternoon, I began to ponder why? I am not designing my schedule with enough time in it to sleep. I say design because a mother chooses the day. We set the tone and the schedule. And when I am tired, I am more cranky and the tone I set isn’t as good as it could be. Also my youngest isn’t sleeping as well as she should be, again I ask why? So what to do?

Well first I remembered an article I read given to me by my doctor. Most adults need 8 hours of sleep every day. That means in 24 hours 8 of those hours should be dedicated to sleeping. You may need a bit more or a bit less because it’s an average. If you are tired consider that you may not be allowing yourself enough time to sleep.

So what could you cut out to get yourself more sleep? I would say the first thing is some of your TV watching time. I am sure it will be hard to give up those shows, but maybe just start with ½ hour and go to bed ½ hour earlier. If you are able to, when you lay your kids down for a nap take a nap yourself. This one is hard for me to do because nap time is when I get things done. Recently I have tried napping and it has helped a bit in my attitude in the evenings.

Are you KIDS getting enough sleep? My pediatrician told me that kid should be waking up on there own, if they need an alarm clock or you to wake them up, they need more sleep. (unless they are like my brother who just would rather stay in bed for days then get up …… LOL teenagers!) Smaller children need 12 hours in a 24 hour period. So add up nap time and night time sleep and see what you get. If its less then 12 and you are having to wake them in the mornings, start putting them to bed a bit earlier. Also when kids (this is until they stop growing) may need up to 14 hours of sleep during times they are growing. WOW! That is a lot of sleep. But hey if it helps them grow up healthy and strong … its worth it. And just think of those 6 hours you could be getting NOT driving them everywhere! Naps for everyone!