Sleepy Son

Mark-
My 13-year-old son seems tired all the time. He doesn’t sleep well at night for one thing. Any suggestions?
T.Y.
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Hi T.,

If you have a tired teen, have them read about teens and sleep on a page just for teens.

Print out Awake at the Wheel-it's an interactive brochure for teens-and discuss it with them.

Take a look at these pointers for parents on teens and sleep from the National Sleep Foundation.

The National Sleep Foundation Teens and Sleep homepage has many more great resources.

Here are some "Do’s and Don’ts":
DO:

Keep to a regular daily routine—the same waking time, meal times, etc.

Make sure your kids have interesting and varied activities during the day, including physical activity and fresh air.

Use a simple, regular bedtime routine. It should not last too long and should take place primarily in the room where the child will sleep. It may include a few simple, quiet activities, such as a light snack, shower, saying goodnight, etc. The kinds of activities in the routine will depend on the child’s age.

Use light to your advantage. Keep lights dim in the evening as bedtime approaches. In the morning, get your child into bright light, and, if possible, take them outside. Light helps signal the brain into the right sleep-wake cycle.

DON’T:

Don’t fill up your child’s room with video games, computers, toys, etc. It’s probably best to keep your child’s bedroom a place to sleep, rather than a place to play.

Don’t give your child foods and drinks with caffeine in them, like hot chocolate, tea, cola, chocolate, etc. Even caffeine earlier in the day could disrupt your child’s sleep cycle.

Don't let your child watch more than one to two hours of TV during the day, and don't let them watch TV at bedtime at all. TV viewing at bedtime has been linked to poor sleep.

If your child has a TV set in their bedroom, remove it. Research shows watching TV is linked to sleep problems, especially if the TV set is in the child’s bedroom. The presence of other media, such as a computer, video games or Internet in a kid’s bedroom is also associated with worse sleep.

Never use sending your child to bed as a threat. Bedtime needs to be a secure, loving time, not a punishment. Your goal is to teach your kids that bedtime is enjoyable, just as it is for us adults. If the feeling around bedtime is a good feeling, your child will fall asleep easier.

Mark

Online Parent Support

We are on the right track finally...

Mark,

The situation with my daughter became critical Sunday/Monday, so instead of waiting for the CD's to listen to in the car, I took the day off and read up to the first assignment in the e-book. I listened to all the audio too... I read it a few times.
I realized that the problem is from my being an uninvolved parent. I did all the assignments the first night (except make a contract) and lo and behold, about 4 hours after telling her I had made mistakes as a parent, she came downstairs and announced she was ready to talk and spilled her guts about stuff she has been lying to me about for quite awhile. No hostility (she had been physically aggressive with me just that morning.)

I feel like we are on the right track finally. Thank you. Your info is pretty commonsense (should be, anyway), but I was handling it all in the opposite way (getting mad at her, withdrawing further, etc.)

THANK YOU.

D.

www.MyOutOfControlTeen.com

Puppy Love Problems

Dear Mark,

Having read this very interesting info from your website, I am truly interested in attending the OPS you offer, although I’m wondering if you think it will help me in my situation with my 16 year old son D___, he has just started going out with an 18 year old girl he met at work as he works part time, we have had a lot of attitude and behavior problems over the last 6 months or so with him just taking off when things don't always go his way and not coming home. Now he's wanting to have this girl sleep over in his room in his bed and I totally don't agree with it and have made it very clear, he swears at me all the time, takes off to her house for days at a time without my permission, only coming home of a morning, then goes straight to his room to sleep half the day, hasn't been going to school hardly at all since he has been seeing her, and said I am ruining his life and he won't have anything to do with us and will keep doing what he's doing until I let him do what he wants to do, and this girls mother sees no harm and lets them sleep in the girls room together, as I see it as not the right thing to do as he has only just turned 16 last month and has only been seeing this girl for about 2 weeks, since then he has only slept at home for 3 nights during that whole period, two of those nights he has brought her to my home and had her sleep in his room totally against my rules and judgment, and he has warned me that if that's what he wants to do he will do so no matter what I think, using profane language at me, could you please give me some advice on whether I am doing the right thing by trying to make him see my rules must matter in our home and if this programme can help me at all.

Kindest Regards,

M.P.

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Hi M.,

I believe you’re doing the right thing by not condoning their sleeping together – it’s all a bit weird, don’t you think? I mean how many other 16-year-old males are sleeping with 18-year-old females – in the female’s home! His girlfriend’s mother seems to be a very poor role model.

You will profit from the strategies discussed in my eBook. In the unlikely event that you find nothing of benefit, just email me and ask for a refund. I don’t want you paying for something that doesn’t live up to its claims.

Mark @ www.MyOutOfControlTeen.com

mbhutten@gmail.com

mbhutten@yahoo.com