"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message
...

Frankly, I don't have to wake them early, since
they're early risers to begin with.

??? Then I'm a bit surprised you weighed in on this issue in the way
you have. I have one of each. DS is usually the first one up on the
weekends and all summer. DD likes to sleep in, and 10 is common for
her, sometimes it's later.

Huh? Actually, I'm very much a night owl and would
much prefer to stay up late and sleep in. That is not, however,
the reality of my life, nor is it the reality of theirs. So,
we get up and get going and take care of business.

Well, sure, but getting up because you need to for whatever reason is
different than just deciding that everyone needs to be up by X:00 just
because.

To me, it's not just a school schedule. I don't like
going though the adjustment, so that is one aspect of it,
but mostly it's just that I don't think anyone gets to lie
around half the day and stall everyone else's day because
they want to stay up late at night. Other families may be
able to accommodate everyone shifting their schedule later,
but in our family, there are things to get done and people
who need a decent night's sleep not to be cranky and unbearable
to live with. So, we get up and get moving. And really,
although it's not something every family needs to do, I
don't think there's anything wrong with expecting folks to
get up and get going in the morning. My family would have
gone ballistic if I had thought as a teen that I could sleep
in until lunchtime on a regular basis during the summer.

If your only issue is that they need enough sleep to get up and do the
things they need to do during the summer, then I have no argument with
that. It sounded like you were saying that they needed to get up
early all summer long because not doing so would somehow mess them up
for the school year, and I don't see that. I did indeed sleep to and
past lunchtime on a regular basis during the summer when I was a teen.
I was also usually up until past dawn reading, so I had a pretty
typical 7-8 hours of sleep daily, it just wasn't normally at night.

I was in the top few percent of my high school class, made dean's list
in college, and when I landed my first 8-5 job, was in bed by 11:00
every night so I could be up and fresh and ready to work on time. The
key to me is to have a sleep schedule that works for you.

Bizby