If bedtime has drifted an hour or two later over the summer, nothing has gone wrong. Late sunsets, camp schedules, vacations, and relaxed screen rules all nudge a child’s internal clock later.
Pulling that clock back toward a school-year schedule is real work, and it usually takes a couple of weeks of consistent effort, not one good night. It is also normal to experience some protest, stalling and a few rough mornings along the way. Sleep problems and irregular bedtimes are extremely common in childhood; roughly 20 percent to 30 percent of children are affected by insomnia at some point, so families who struggle with this are in the majority, not the minority.
Subscribe to The Dakota Scout to read the rest of the story.
Become a paying subscriber of The Dakota Scout to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.
SubscribeA subscription gets you:
- Daily news in your inbox
- Viewpoints, concert reviews, obituaries
- Weekly digital copy of print version
