My son, the teen vampire

By Leslie Crawford, Senior Editor

"The light! The light!" my son calls out when I wake him at 6:30 am every school day. He staggers out of bed and, like Edward (that most famous of teen vampires), dramatically shields his face as if his skin will be scorched. "Turn off the light!"

"I would turn off the light," I say, "but I can't because it's coming from a big ball in the sky that goes on and off all by itself."

I return to the kitchen and my husband asks if our son's awake yet. "It depends on what you mean by awake," I answer. Our son is walking, sort of; has dressed himself, kind of; and has brushed his teeth, we think. It's a miracle he's never brushed his teeth with hair gel, since he does all of his ablutions with his eyes closed. 

No choice when it comes to an early morning school start

Why the early morning torture? As millions of bleary-eyed parents can tell you – after they've had their coffee – even if their teen got his top school choice, they have no choice about when the school day begins and for us, high school starts at 7:30 in the morning. Since he's frequently up until 11:00 and even midnight doing homework, that means he's often getting several hours less than the recommended 8.5 to 9 hours of sleep for teenagers - and not enough for the parent who stays up to help him study.

Teen sleep deprivation: no laughing matter  

 This is not only unkind to weary parents, but near devastating to our teens. The affect on their already compromised personalities is not to be underestimated – teens being a little on edge anyway But beyond making them, and us, crazy, the consequences can be dire. Consider this from the National Sleep Foundation's (NSF) Sleep and Teens Task Force report on driving-related injuries and deaths due to sleep deprivation. 

"The most troubling consequences of sleepiness are injuries and deaths related to lapses in attention and delayed response times at critical moments, such as while driving. Drowsiness or fatigue has been identified as a principle cause in at least 100,000 police-reported traffic crashes each year, killing more than 1,500 Americans and injuring another 71,000, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, 1994). Young drivers age 25 or under are involved in more than one-half of fall-asleep crashes. "

If that doesn't make you wake up and take notice, consider other side effects of teen sleep deprivation: hormonal imbalances, a weakened immune system, poor eating habits, and reduced mental facility. I was chagrined to see a news report that gravely announced that "sending your child to school without a good night's sleep is just like sending them to school without breakfast." It's all we can do to get our son out the door by 7:00. He's in no shape, and has little time, to sit down to a proper breakfast.

An intractable school system to change school hours

I've asked "Why so early?" Explanations range from the need for staggered schedules (he attends a school with a population of around 3,000 students) to a need to leave time for sports and afternoon activities. That's why I was so thrilled to read that a petition for a later start time for Montgomery County high school students in Maryland garnered more than 4,500 signatures in 11 days. Their school starts at 7:25 am and they're asking for a more civil start time of, say, 8:15 am. The petitioners may be facing an intractable system that cites a paucity of school buses to get everyone where they need to be as the reason school starts at the crack of dawn.

I'd start a petition of my own – get in on a movement that may be gaining traction by groups like startschoolater.net, but as a new parent at the school, I’m not sure I’m prepared to take on the system in such a big way just yet. Besides, I'm just too tired.

 

 

Comments

[Angel on October 25, 2012 at 01:27 PM]

Schools really are in a no-win situation when it comes to start times. Start too early and parents complain about kids not getting enough sleep and the difficulty of getting them to school before work. Start too late, and parents complain that athletes come home in the dark and that their schedule affects the kids' ability to get part time jobs and get homework done at a reasonable time.

I really wish that schedule was part of what people were looking at when choosing a school. So long as a school meets the daily/yearly time periods for class time, some people would prefer a 7 am start time, and others a 9:30. Let them choose.

[Youth Motivational Speaker on October 29, 2012 at 10:18 PM]

I spoke at a school just last week and they started the first school assembly at 7:15 AM. I was shocked. I had never been to a school that started that early--meaning that the high school started at 7 AM for students. If students are to succeed, we must find a way to make the learning conditions conducive for them.

[Kim on November 04, 2012 at 11:30 AM]

Starting at 7:15 should not be a problem if they go to bed on time. A lot of the students will have to get up and be at work around that time in few years time, best to get into the right state of mind.

We are up at 6, school bus arrives at 7:30, school starts at 7:50 and this is middle school, high school starts at 7:20.

My child goes to bed on time and is fully awake after a shower, breakfast and practice some bass guitar.

I personally get up at 4, as my husband does who leaves at 4:30. Nothing breeds more responsible students as being up on time and wide awake.

[Angela on November 04, 2012 at 06:54 PM]

I completely agree -- our neighborhood high school starts at 7:15 and we are seriously considering other options with more reasonable start times. Research shows that teens have a natural sleep schedule preference for staying up later and waking up later. Even an extra 45 minutes - to 8 a.m. -- would work better.