Strollerderby

Parents cant control EVERYTHING about their teens life, so that 'better parental control' thing seems a tad over the top.

I think making school times later is definitely a good answer. My daughter goes to bed at 8:30 (shes eight) and she wakes up at 6:30 for school. That's 10 hours of sleep! She still wakes up groggy. Its frikkin dark outside for another hour! It doesnt make sense for kids to have to wake up so darn early. Especially before the sun is even out. School time is entirely too early.

Science backs up the hypothesis that teens need more sleep and tend to fall asleep later at night.  So how would parental control change biology?   Are you suggesting parents drug their teens to get them to fit their time table?  

I agree that school time is usually too early.  Between sports and AP classes, it can be very hard for even responsible high schoolers to get into bed early.  It's recommended that high school-aged teenagers get 9 hours of sleep a night, and I know I was never able to get that much, straight-A student that I was.

It's not just a more sleep thing.  The light makes a difference.  At different ages, melatonin levels peak at different times, which means that teenagers are actually wired to fall asleep later after dark than, say, young children.  Here's an article about it: www.washingtonpost.com/.../AR2006010901561.html

There are several studies that suggest teens' brains are actually wired to stay up later and that is why they have a very difficult time going to bed at what most adults consider reasonable.

Plus I agree with maeby, it's difficult if not impossible to control EVERY aspect of your teen's life!

I love how you assume high schoolers are simply fooling around until 1 am.  A number of these high schoolers are actually working until late at night.  Perhaps the alternative to later mornings is, oh, I don't know, less schoolwork?  Less competition to get into college, where everyone and his brother wants/needs to go these days?  Yeah, that's going to happen.  How about a tiny bit of compassion for the students who are actually doing schoolwork, instead of fooling around watching "Grey's Anatomy" like you?

I think school starts way too early anyway. A later school day just makes sense.

My high school started at 9 A.M. and got out at 3:30 P.M. It was wonderful. Sure we didn't get out as early as everyone else, but we got our much needed sleep.

I am all in favor of keeping teenagers in school until later.  When they get out of school at 3pm, they have 3 hours of unsupervised time before their parents get home.  

You kind of sound like that grumpy old man that Dana Carvy used to play on SNL - "in my day we got up at the crack of dawn, and we liked it!"

These days, kids have so much more homework than we did. Plus, since getting into college has become so much more competitive, they also have a ton of extra-curriculars. If a later start time helps them learn better, what is the harm in that? Just because something is different than it was in our day does not make it bad.

My sister was a competitive swimmer and high achiever in high school. She had swim practice at 5 am and then another after school. She had a part time job because she needed the money. And so she was also addicted to caffeine pills because she stayed up until two or so doing homework every night.

I'm confused why you think every kid is just loafing around playing Wii until the wee hours of the morning. That's some upper class privilege talking there.

I agree with everyone else and their comments.  I graduated high school three years ago, and there were never enough hours in the day.  We started our school day at 7:25 AM, and we got out at 2:20; I think that a lot of kids are too irresponsible to handle those 3-ish hours of unsupervised time.  Also, from the time I could drive, I had to have a part-time job to start saving for college.  So add waking up every morning before dawn to schoolwork for AP classes and a part-time job...I was nearly always sick from being run-down all the time.

I know that waking up early and juggling the life of a high schooler isn't the worst situation in the world, and I don't think it calls for a huge pity party....but any little bit helps, you know?

Once I got to college and all of my classes started after 10 AM, I noticed a huge difference in my attitude and attentiveness throughout the day.  So that little bit of extra sleep does help!

I don't think there is much harm in starting school later. Especially because we are raising a generation of entitled children so it makes perfect sense to accomodate them in this way.(Yes, that is sarcasm).

Everyone is so concerned with extra curriculars. If a student can not handle thier sport, then they don't play sports. If a job is too much too handle, it gets put aside. Kids will have plenty of time to work when they are adults.

Parents do not have enough control over teenagers. Not because they can't, because they choose not to. Discipline your kids, set rules and enforce them. Yes, your child will hate you for a short time and respect you for the rest of thier life. Hey, they might even thank you for caring about them.

Again, Twyla, privilege. Some kids need the money from their jobs. Some kids see sports as their best avenue to getting scholarships and being able to afford college. Just doing well in school is not enough to get you into college, and I know this because I score applications in a college admissions office.

I don't know how this means other people don't care about their teenagers, because they can't afford to tell them to blow off their jobs, but hey. What's true for you must be true for everybody right?

I never said that a child with a job has a parent that doesn't care about them. I said we are raising an entitled generation.

It is cute how you have assumed my kids, from my working class family, are privileged. I needed a good chuckle today and you delivered nicely. My kids will most likely go to a community college to start thier education. I am very okay with that, too.

I think it is more important to teach our kids what the world will be like rather than cater to them. My boss has never said, "you seem tired from raising 4 kids and having 2 jobs so I think you should start coming in an hour or two later." It is just not realistic. Don't we want our teenagers to be able to understand that responsibility and success come at a price that they don't get to set the limits on?

Zillions of good solid studies have replicated the result that teenagers have a very hard time going to sleep early (in general, there are exceptions, obviously). So, parents may be able to force them into their rooms, but they can't force them to sleep. I know this because my parents tried: I lay awake from about 9 pm until at least 2 am every night when I was in high school. I WANTED to sleep, but I couldn't. I was exhausted all of the time. I had sleep-deprivation-induced migraines at least once/week. It was awful. Sleep experts have since told me that just lying there in bed if you can't sleep is a huge mistake. So what should a parent do, drug their child? Now obviously I was an extreme case, but I am thrilled that some schools are starting to accept the fact that children (and teenagers are still children) aren't just little adults.

I see what you're saying, Twyla, about your boss not letting you come in late because you're tired. I think there is a difference in the two situations, though. If your boss had a lot of employees, and they ALL seemed more productive after 9 am, it would just be a very good decision for your boss to change the work day to start at 9. When it comes to deciding what time to start the school day, it's not about letting lazy kids and parents have their way. It just makes sense to look at the entire situation and to structure the school day in a way that works well for the greatest number of people. Most adult work days don't start at 7:30 am (although some do), so kids who get used to starting the school day at 9 am won't necessarily be unprepared for the real world.

I have also heard of studies that suggest that teens sleep schedules actually shift so that they naturally want to sleep later in the morning.  It's not just about accomodating their jobs/homework/extracurricular schedules, it's about giving them every chance we can to be successful in school, and there fore, at life.  Comparing teens sleep schedules to parenting is patently ridiculous.