How to REALLY Enforce Bedtime

We know we’ve got quite a few parents in our little community here at Sandia Village, and one of the biggest challenges of parenthood is putting your kids to bed. With winter break wrapping up, it shouldn’t be a surprise if you experience difficulty with bedtime as the little ones get back into their daily routine.

However, there are some proven ways, depending on your child’s age, to get them to hit the hay a little faster. Productivity website Lifehacker has assembled a list of tips for parents in this area.

Here are some of the tips they have for kids ages 7 to 12:

Maintain the bedtime routine. The routine will likely change when your kid gets older and he's able to put himself to bed, but the basics of going from active to quieter activities, and unplugging from video games and TV still apply.
 Limit after-school activities. Extra-curricular activities are important, but too many of them coupled with lots of homework can push the bedtime later and later. Kids this age still need about 10-11 hours of sleep a day, although the average is only about 9 hours.
 Don't let weekends throw you off. Sleeping in on the weekends doesn't help anyone catch up on sleep and can, instead, throw off our internal clocks. A policy of staying up late "because it's the weekend" could jeopardize your child's sleep the following week, so try to avoid that if you can.

Or, if your kids are a little older, here’s their advice for kids aged 13 and up:

Blue light therapy. Blue light, we've seen before, can boost alertness. So blue lightbulbs or lamps in the morning could help your teen adjust more easily.
 Reserve the bed for sleep only. Advise your teen to have a good bedtime routine (yes, still!), which could include reading, but preferably not in bed, says Dr. Siege: "The act of getting into bed can be used as a final trigger for the brain to say 'I am going to sleep now,' so getting into bed should be reserved for the actual moment when one is going to be actually going to sleep." Good advice for adults too.
 Ban screens the hour before bed. Encourage your teen to keep the cell phone out of the bedroom (don't laugh, anything's possible!)
 Avoid stimulants. Per Dr. Siege: "Caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and of course other recreational substances can interfere with proper sleep and should be avoided by those struggling with insomnia." 

Click here to see their tips for kids of all age groups!