bizby40 wrote:
"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.

I have lived with a number of late risers, and
tend that way myself, and occasionally have had issues
with the kids if I don't watch their sleep time.

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.

If the whole family is going to bed at 2am and
waking at noon, and they can still get done what needs
doing that's one thing. If one member of the family is
sleeping until noon, he or she is missing out on a
significant part of family life. I think it creates
distance in the family. You don't get to do as many
things as a family because by the time one member
wakes up, it's too late. So I don't really care if
they get up at 7:30 or 8:00 on a non-school day, but
if they fall into a habit of sleeping until 11:00am
or noon because they're staying up until all hours,
I don't think that's okay. They're missing out on
a lot of family life that way.

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.

As I said, it's both. *MY* kids don't adjust in
a day or two to the school schedule, especially if they
have drifted more than an hour or so off schedule. Kids
are different in this regard. But the bigger issue in my
mind is the lack of family integration when part of the
family is AWOL for much of the time. Even if there aren't
specific assigned chores or whatever, the kid who's sleeping
until noon misses out on impromptu pancakes for breakfast,
or messes up a last minute decision to go on a family outing,
or isn't around even to hang out and chat with folks.

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.

I think it's key to have one that works for the
*family* as well. It's not just about the individual.

Best wishes,
Ericka