Sleepy time time. A question of the dozes.

Summertime sleep

 I am not a good sleeper.  I always wonder if this dates from my high school years when I went to bed around 11 pm.  I must have been 14-17.  I didnt think that was too late.  But actually now in retrospect I think it was.  I am not sure if I got 8 hours of sleep although maybe I did from 11 till 7am.   I was always very sad in the morning, but I see that now as part of a problem.  Sort of "morning sickness" or popularly known as a night owl opposed to an early bird.  I have always been a night owl.  I have said and still say that the hours between 6am and 8 or 9am should be banned.  They should be for sleeping.  I think I am in a minority on that issue.  My best time for sleeping would be from midnight to 1am to between 8 and 9am or 10am to get up.  

I am not sure if any of that has contributed to my bad sleeping. I have been reading about sleep and trying to do research on my own about sleep for years.  

So.  The question is, with my background, what time should I let my teenage daughter go to sleep in the night during summer?  

Yes yes, I know, strictly a first world problem.  I admit it.  But now let me get to the points.  

1.  She is a teenager and teenagers, as has been written by major sleep specialists 1) and becoming general knowledge, have a mess in their front brain cortex (I hope I have that part correct) and their sleep patterns will vary wildly.  Not being sleepy till midnight can be common.  Letting them sleep till 8am is a good thing.  Naps in the afternoon are once again good.  

2. She is a teenager and wants to stay up later and see what all the fuss is about staying up late at night.  Granted this can start at age 10,  but teenagers act like top sh.. and beat their chests that they stayed up until  xam last night.  

3. As my daughter said, "Dad, its summer.  I CAN stay up after midnight".   Shes got a point there. If she isnt tired, she can go to bed when she is and get up when she is not in the morning.  

The problem(s).  

1. Allowing bad behavior begets more bad behavior.  Going to bed late

accustoms the body to get used to going to bed later..... and later.  

How late should she be allowed to stay out?  She called my wife one night in July at 10.15pm and asked her to pick her up from the basketball court as she had fallen and the park had closed (or something) and she couldnt get home.  My wife answered me with  toxicity: "This is what happens when you let your daughter stay out past 10 pm."   (hisss hisss )

For the first week in July my daugther was going to bed around 2am and sleeping till as late as noon.  This is even past my comfort level and 2am can quickly turn into 4am and getting up in the afternoon.   Bad sleep patterns turn into worse sleep patterns.  

So anecdotally I have to answer this first world problem.  

How? 

Well, thankfully the problem was taken from my hands for the next two weeks as she attended a summer camp and in their usual military style they probably made the campers go to bed at a "not bad time" say between 10 and 11 pm.   But as my daughter said to me, that is when they went to bed, but it didnt mean they went to sleep.  Oh. 

After that, I tried to impose a midnight lights out policy on our vacation.  Maybe 1am for me, just to be fair.  I think midnight is a fair policy for a teenager during summer.  You know, in July and even into August it stays twilight till 10pm so you can be outside till then. Then you go in and have a snack, play a game for an hour, watch some TV (no not on the gadgets) till 11ish and then get ready for bed and read some in bed for at least half an hour.  My girls seem to naturally sleep for around 9-10 hours when they can, so they can sleep till 9.30 ish 10 am ish and still have morning to get up into.  Thats all good isnt it?  

Unfortunately it hasnt been working like that.  We have been watching TV till 11, 11.30. (We have to see the news and weather on TV at 11). THEN we have to clean up some, and get ready for bed and it is midnight.  Maybe after.  Then if I am still up, they are still up.  So it has turned into go to bed between 12.30 and 1 and they sleep till......  11 or noon.  AGHHH.  I dont know why they are sleeping so much, often for 12 hours.  So I guess I havent solved "the problem" if indeed it was a problem.  Maybe now 12 hours is natural and I am doing them good and their brains are developing.  It hasnt gotten out of hand that they stay up till 2am, though one daughter has said she couldnt fall asleep till 2am.  So... I am not sure if I have solved the problem, but maybe the problem did not exist and there was nothing to solve.  Maybe the problem is DURING school year they can only get 9 hours at the most unless we put them to bed at gunpoint earlier in the evening.  

Problem solved once again by not doing anything (?).  Hmmmmmm   

How are you doing in your summer?  Kids at home?  Doing things?  Summer camp?  Your own activities?   Make the most of summer..... whatever that means.