It’s hard to believe that children are back to school within the next two weeks, don’t you think?
Gone will be the 20-minute commute, which usually takes over an hour during school term. Gone will be the silence on the trains and buses, which will soon be filled with boisterous (and noisy) teens going to and from school.
On the plus side, parents up and down the country will get most of their evenings back to themselves, as their children will (hopefully) be going to bed earlier.
When it comes to a change in routine, most young babies don’t really care what time of year it is. Even toddlers who don’t attend minders/playgroup/crèche won’t see any difference. But for school-going children, the transition from lazy mornings to the inevitable gallop out the door can be quite an ordeal. The morning time trials will not just be down to their denial about Summer being over, but also because their body clocks are out of whack after a few months off.
Can we fix them in time? Absolutely. In fact, ten days to two weeks before they go back is exactly when we should start to make small changes in order to make life easier. A little like when the clocks go forward or back (a subject I will cover in a couple of months), making small adjustments in advance is the best option.
Start by waking them a little earlier (even just by 15 minutes) for a number of days leading up to the change. Within the first few days of doing this, begin to alter bedtime so it starts to get a bit earlier. Some parents will physically change the time on the clocks in the house in order to trick little ones, but once they can read the time, and with most families using smartphones, you won’t fool them for long.
Keep bedtime routines simple and steady – I would include your older primary school kids in this. Even the process of going to bed, perhaps to read, will encourage them back into a ‘normal’ pattern for the school year.
Dimly lit rooms can help to stimulate the production of melatonin – a hormone that encourages us to get drowsy – so turn down the lights or pull the curtains in the late evening. I read somewhere that a darkened house appears boring to children. They are less likely to wonder what you are up to and won’t be worried about something more exciting happening outside their bedroom. A child’s version of FOMO!
Keep tablets and games out of bedrooms once they’re back at school, and keep an eye on their diets too. Rules understandably go by the wayside during the holidays and sugary treats can sometimes be more on than off the menu. Cut back on them, particularly in the afternoons.
At the end of the day, we can but try. Chances are they are going to be a bit grumpy going back to school (who can blame them?), but if we can get their sleeping habits back on track in advance, they won’t feel so bad.
Niamh O’Reilly is a sleep coach. She’s also a baby and childcare guru, a ‘parent nanny’ and the answer to many a weary parent’s woes. When it comes to baby and child issues, Niamh is your woman. Always on hand to offer a no-nonsense solution, in an approachable way. A regular in the Irish media, (most recently as TV3’s Late Lunch Show’s ‘parent nanny’) over the next while at HerFamily.ie, Niamh will share some of her experiences, helping you attain that ‘holy grail’ – nights of uninterrupted sleep for all of the family.
Niamh’s book, No Fuss Baby & Toddler Sleep, is now available to buy from all good book stores or online from Amazon.co.uk.
