Vicki Dawson of The Children’s Sleep Charity said: “Sleep is so important in order to ensure that children can meet their full potential in every aspect of their lives. It can be helpful to have an awareness of roughly how much sleep a child needs but we do need to consider that all children are individuals. A good bedtime is really helpful to plan the evening routine and fit in quality family time.”
Research shows that children who go to bed after 9:00pm take longer to fall asleep, wake more often during the night and get less sleep overall.
By the time they start kindergarten, your children’s sleep should be beginning to settle into a more regular pattern. We have shared a chart with you to help you understand how much sleep your child actually needs and what a good bedtime might be. It’s important to note that the hours on the chart are only guidelines, because some children need more sleep than others, just like adults. It’s also important to focus on the quality, rather than quantity, of sleep and to establish a good bedtime routine.
Sometimes, we notice children coming to class very tired in the morning and this is the first sign your child is not getting enough sleep to prepare for a full day of learning and having fun. As teachers, we can tell which children are well-rested and ready for the day ahead and which are not. We want to support parents to establish healthy sleep patterns for their child so they get the most out of their school day.
As your children have just arrived at House of Knowledge and are still developing a new routine, it is important to address your child’s sleeping routine to ensure all children are getting enough sleep to succeed in school.
Here at House of Knowledge we want every child who walks through our door to have the best start to their day of learning from the moment they arrive at school.
Tips to getting the right amount of sleep for your child:
- Establish a bedtime routine where your child goes to bed at the same time every night during school nights, Sunday – Thursday.
- Ensure that, before getting into bed, your children have already brushed their teeth, said goodnight to family members and gone to the toilet so they don’t make excuses to get out of bed.
- Send your child to bed 30 minutes earlier than you expect them to be asleep so that they can have some quiet time to relax and unwind. During this time, they can read a book, listen to soft music, read a book or even sing soft songs with someone special.
- If your children get up after they’ve already been put to bed, quietly remind them it’s past their bedtime and they need to go to sleep. If your child struggles to fall asleep, either stay with them until they fall asleep, turn on a spinning lamp to put lighted pictures on the walls, play soft music, or leave a nightlight on to help them fall asleep.
- Be sure that your child is not looking at screens (e.g. watching videos, playing on an iPad, looking at a phone, etc.) an hour before their bedtime. The LED light in the screens can negatively impact people’s ability to sleep after looking at it even for a short time.
If you would like to discuss how to effectively improve your children’s sleep patterns and other tips for students entering kindergarten, please come to our Open Day and discuss with our principal, Anna!