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Sleeping Tips for Tweens

This conversation is sponsored by My Green Mattress.  All opinions are mine alone.

I came across an article written a few years ago in the Washington Post about why teens and tweens should have later start times in school.  It stated that teens have a sleep cycle that starts 2 hours later than adults and sleep deprivation can become a real problem.  My 7th grader STARTS school at 7:30.  The bus comes rumbling down the street at ten till seven and that’s one of the later buses too.

Getting a good nights sleep can be hard for anyone, but kids may not realize things they do can affect sleep. Click over and grab these sleeping tips for tweens.

I noticed my tween getting grumpier, but I figured it was just puberty and there was nothing I could do.  The more I talked to other moms and read a few more articles, I realized that he’s just not getting enough sleep. When my kids were younger I could almost always contribute bad behavior to a skipped nap or late bedtime.  I guess it can be the same for older kids too.  I started thinking of some things to help him relax and get to bed early since there was nothing I could do about the school’s start time.

Sleeping Tips for Tweens

No electronics in the bedroom.  I have this rule for safety reasons too, but…staring at that screen will definitely keep you up longer.  Try to give kids a warning so they can put the phones down and turn the TV off.

Try to keep a regular schedule, even on weekends.  This can be hard with sleepovers, games, and movies but if we don’t have anything going on I encourage regular bedtimes.

Eat a good dinner.  My boys are busy with school and after school activities and usually starving by dinner.  If I make something they don’t like, they don’t eat a lot.  They may not like one part of the meal,  but I try to have other things I know they will eat.

Watch the caffeine.  My son is always trying to sneak a soda or frapachino.  I can’t have caffeine after lunch or it keeps me up at night.  I talked to him about being smart about the results those drinks and if he’s going to have them, then try to have it at lunch and not after.

Keep the lights low.  My younger son was tossing and turning and I couldn’t figure out why and it was driving me crazy.  I realized that he had a lava lamp right in front of his face and Christmas lights strung across his room.  His room wasn’t dark and when he woke up during the night he had a hard time falling back asleep.

Have a good mattress.  This has been a big help.  When I walked into my son’s room you could see a huge dip in the middle of his mattress.  He had an older one from when my husband and I first got married.  We figured that it wouldn’t bother him because he weighed less.  Over time the dip only got bigger and we knew he couldn’t get comfortable in that thing.  We recently got a mattress from My Green Mattress and he loves it!  I do too.  I did take a nap in there the other day to test it out. 🙂

We ordered it online from My Green Mattress and it came in just a couple of days looking like this.

Getting a good nights sleep can be hard for anyone, but kids may not realize things they do can affect sleep. Click over and grab these sleeping tips for tweens.

My son and I got it to his room, cut the plastic off and it rolled right out.  He thought it was so cool.  There were no wrinkles in the mattress from being rolled up and I was surprised that it didn’t have any smell.  I love that it’s made from organic and natural materials.

Getting a good nights sleep can be hard for anyone, but kids may not realize things they do can affect sleep. Click over and grab these sleeping tips for tweens.

Try implementing a few of these tips to help your tween get a better nights sleep.  Is there a trick that you use to sleep better that I can try out?

You may also like this post on tween movies.

Movies to watch with Tween

Does your family like having movie night? Here are some great movies for tweens that you will enjoy too. Grab the popcorn!

Mady

Friday 25th of January 2019

Wow these will be a huge help!!