Excuse: Kids Can Catch Up on Sleep Later

I hate to tell you, but the idea of catching up on sleep is a myth. Did you know that for every extra hour of sleep you or your child don't get during the week, your reaction times gets slower, and your cognitive performance declines? If all you're hearing is excuses from your kids, figure out why they don't want to sleep. If they're not tired, maybe they're not moving enough during the day. So think about encouraging them to play a sport or to exercise. If they want to stay up late to watch TV, try setting specific hours for TV viewing, and limit them to those hours. And if it's social time they want, make some cut-off times for phone, social media, and computer time. Talk to them about how too little sleep can make them feel, too. They probably don't want to feel foggy at school and too drained to play sports or hang out with friends. Children ages 6 to 12 need between 9 and 12 hours of sleep per day. Older kids need about 8 to 10 hours. And parents, you need to sleep about eight hours. So don't just play catch-up. Make sleep a priority for everyone in your house. [MUSIC PLAYING]