First, I have to say I miss posting and blogging. Never mind the fact that nobody even looks at my blog, it's still fun to write on one and pretend I'm someone, someone else would want to read. Any way, I believe that when I work nights, I have more opportunity to write on a blog.
Okay, so back to th
e point. I read an article in the Lawrence Journal World paper today regarding a topic that I can't seem to steer my mind clear from. The article is in regards to a statement a state official from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment made about teen sleeping deprivation. What!?!?!?! If there are any teenagers out there who are depriving from sleep, it is their own fault. Furthermore, this state official continues to explain how they think moving schools start times to later in the morning would allow teenagers more hours to sleep before class, thus making them more productive learners. I say bullshit. Pardon my French here folks, but hold the phone. Are we seriously going to coddle our youth so much now as to allow them to sleep in longer? And how exactly is this motivating them to become productive contributors to society once they enter the workforce? I can answer that one . . . it won't.On another note, I would like to be selfish in saying that my family has an already difficult time managing all of the children's drop off times to school while still maintaining on time job attendance allowing us to pay for said education we are offering our children. So, let these teenagers sleep in later, past the time their parents are due in for work, truly trust them to wake up on their own, and get themselves to school on time. Now, I can see ALL of the problems with these predictions. I know what kind of kid I was when I was in high school. Had my parents not been there every morning dragging my ass out of bed, I would have never made it to my senior year. As it was, I almost didn't graduate as I was one tardy away from failing English my Senior year of high school. This was also the year I moved out on my own. Go figure. I was able to get my butt in gear and get to school the remainder of the semester earning me a diploma at the end of the year. Kids these days are not the same as they were when I was in school though. They have had much different parenting techniques used on them. Instead of being whipped with a belt, or back handed when they talk back, they get hugs, talks, and sit in this chair and think about what you did lessons. So, you expect them to be this responsible? Never going to happen.
The other problem I foresee with a later arrival time is with children thinking they can stay up even later than they currently do specifically because they don't have to be up earlier. Think about it for a minute. How many times have you stayed up later on a Friday night, knowing you could because you could sleep in on Saturday morning? Well, these kid's minds are going to work in the same fashion. Whose wouldn't? In thinking this way, these kids are going to be getting the same amount of sleep (or lack there of) as they were getting to begin with. So, way to go for messing with their structure.
Obviously you can tell how I feel about the issue. It could be a little more of a touchy subject for me as this news was received on the eve of discovering that our children have, on average, at least two days off from school every month of the year. This does NOT include the week to two week vacations they have for "winter" holiday's. So, I'm already of the mind set that our children miss out on too many days of school every year. I am all for teaching our children and preparing them for entering the job force. Think about it, how many employers do you think would be okay with you missing and average of at least two days off every month? I can't think of very many, if any. On top of the fact that in the real world? Days of cost you. Either by not being paid for them (resulting in a possible inability to cover a bill that month) or by using compensatory time offered by your employer.
My last statement in regards to this topic is in the form of a question. Why are these children not getting enough sleep? The article refers to them not going to bed at a decent time. Our children, while not in high school yet, still have a bed time ranging from 8:00 pm for the younger ones to no later than 9:00 pm for the oldest. They get plenty of sleep. Why are the parents of these children not enforcing a bed time? And if they aren't able to maintain a healthy sleeping schedule in their home, what is the state doing to help them and their family to get back on track? What makes the state think that the children in these homes, while not following a bed time or curfew I'm sure their parents are trying to enforce, are going to follow the new routine while being even less supervised than before?
That is all . . . again, not like it matters, for this will not be read by anyone else. I have to say though, I feel better for getting it off my chest.
