Luckily, my state understood this and our school hours were like 8-8:30am to 3pm. Still kinda early, but way less of a kick in the teeth as states that make their kids come in at 7am and out at 2pm.
is this an americabrained comment? here in sweden, and this is not some urbanist paradise, kids can absolutely get to school on their own, whether that be walking biking or taking public transport.
it’s in fact bog standard for kids to take the bus to school in my town, to the point that you really want to avoid their travel times because buses will be jam packed with annoying children.
In some states it’s illegal to leave children of a certain age unsupervised. I think it’s 11 and below here? People do it anyway and no one’s looking to prosecute, but it’s a thing.
I can’t speak for every municipality in America, but the elementary schools around here do not allow kids to walk or bike to school. Either that, or every single parent, no exceptions, disallows it, because I’ve never seen a child that young coming into or leaving the school on their own. FFS, when I used to pick up my stepson, same car every day, the teacher had to put their hand on the roof and look me in the eye through a rolled-down window. That was literally the rule.
So like I said, “some of the younger ones aren’t mature enough or raised independently enough”. It sucks, but it’s true.
I have an 8 and 10-yo. They love my house because I allow them freedom. We went to a huge camping place to get married this weekend, local outfitter sort of thing. I gave them some instructions and warnings, cut them loose. Their helicopter mom would shit her pants if she knew they walked all over the woods alone.
(And of course we got the usual comment below crying about capitalism. I’m not sure if these people expect that no one works for a living, or they don’t do it on a coordinated schedule, or what.)
lol … I had a nephew like that … at around the age of 12 to 15 a few years ago … I’d be visiting their family, then around 10, he’d yawn, make a big show and say he’s going to bed.
What the parents just ignored was that he was lying in bed with his ipad and phone until early, early in the morning watching movies, youtube or tv all night long and getting absolutely no sleep … wake up like a drunken sailor every morning and not pay attention at school.
The parents didn’t care because the kid wasn’t bothering them and he stayed quiet in his room … he could live their by himself on the wifi connection for all they cared. … high speed internet is a great baby sitter.
Does nobody who says this remember their days in highschool?
Let’s say a bedtime of 9
School gets out at 3
Allot about 2 hours for homework, it’s now 5
Allot an hour for dinner, it’s 6
Congratulations! A kid has a whopping 3 hours of free time per weekday to enjoy the last few years of childhood. These are even relatively conservative numbers, HW could easily stretch into 3-4+ hours with an AP class or a particularly HW heavy teacher leaving a whole hour of free time! How wonderful.
Oops wait, a strict parent(s) now adds an additional hour for household chores, ah well so much for free time.
The whole point is that they shouldn’t have to make that choice…
I also made that choice, so I know exactly how unhealthy it is to either 1) not have any time in the day to decompress and mentally prepare myself for the next day or 2) Revenge stay up so that I can do 1 but only get 5-6 hours of sleep.
And I’m saying, with how dense an average teenager’s schedule is, going to sleep earlier results in them having no free time in their lives. It’s just sleep, school, homework, sleep, school, homework.
That’s no life. I know, I lived through it. What you’re suggesting is an illusion of choice. Not to mention that as a teenager I could get in bed at 9 and just stare at the wall until 3am. One does not simply “go to bed” when your brain is simmering in hormones.
It sucks, but as things are those are the options for them. Either less sleep and more free time or cutting back on free time.
One does not simply “go to bed” when your brain is simmering in hormones.
Worked for us during camp. Took a while to get to the rhythm but worked. Dunno if it’s an actual thing that teenagers have to sleep on a schedule where they have to stay up late. If so, sucks, then they got no choice.
People keep thinking everything said online is an argument. I’m just telling you those are their options. It’s tough titties for them since they really can’t affect when their school starts.
Don’t be angry at me that that’s how it is. I didn’t make it so.
them since they really can’t affect when their school starts.
Don’t be angry at me that that’s how it is. I didn’t make it so.
Well duh. As adults, authority figures and parents that’s our job to push for these things and get it done for them. Just because we had to suffer through it doesn’t mean the status quo should remain the same. That’s the same BS “pull up the ladder behind me” attitude that’s affecting so many other things.
It sucks, but as things are those are the options for them. Either less sleep and more free time or cutting back on free time.
One does not simply “go to bed” when your brain is simmering in hormones.
Worked for us during camp. Took a while to get to the rhythm but worked. Dunno if it’s an actual thing that teenagers have to sleep on a schedule where they have to stay up late. If so, sucks, then they got no choice.
It sucks, but as things are those are the options for them. Either less sleep and more free time or cutting back on free time.
One does not simply “go to bed” when your brain is simmering in hormones.
Worked for us during camp. Took a while to get to the rhythm but worked. Dunno if it’s an actual thing that teenagers have to sleep on a schedule where they have to stay up late. If so, sucks, then they got no choice.
the whole damn point is that teenagers can’t just choose to go to sleep earlier, all that would result in is them laying wide awake in bed and missing out on time to socialize.
What if (hear me out) the high school kids can go to bed earlier if they’re sleep deprived? Waking up at a certain time is really only half the equation. The school isn’t making you stay up and get up early.
Going to bed earlier isn’t an effective solution for many kids. Around 1 in 6 adolescents find it difficult to fall asleep before 11:00 PM.
In adolescence, up to 16% of teenagers experience a sleep phase delay. Due to this circadian shift , their melatonin levels don’t begin to rise until later in the evening. As a result, they naturally feel more alert at night, making it harder for them to fall asleep before 11:00 p.m.
Well considering that public schools (at least in the US) are glorified daycares in place so both parents can go work, the obvious solution is to globally push back the concept of “morning” to mean ‘a few hours after the sun rises’.
Our school started at 8:30 for a whole year, it sucked ass. Since it was high school, the classes going until 4:30 was impossible to manage with a job, I’d end up getting home around 12:00 just to get a normal shift in. Extracurriculars lasted until 6:00! No time to do homework. Waking up early is a part of life, considering we can’t just lengthen the day.
That’s like 1.5 hours longer than the school day here what the heck are yall in school for 8 hours straight for. If we started at 9 we’d be out at 3:30.
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