Sleep is so important for us, and often times as adults we don’t get enough of it. But then there is the opposite effect, like when we’re teenagers and we get too much sleep. I’m sure some of us remember our high school and early college days when we could easily sleep in till the late afternoon.
I remember in high school my mom was always going off about how much time I could spend sleeping in if I didn’t set an alarm. Apparently, my mom isn’t the only mom to teenagers who’s had enough of how much they can sleep.
One mom – a mother to two teen boys – shared on Reddit just how much her kids can sleep. She shared that she wanted to put a stop to the amount of time they spent in bed, so she made a household rule: No sleeping past 10 am on the weekends.
Sounds like a normal request, right? Well, it didn’t go down well with the kids’ uncle – her brother – who believes that she should let them sleep as much as they want. Rather than hash it out in the family, she turned to the internet for their advice.
On Reddit, the mom wrote out her dilemma: “I have two children (16M, 14M) and have a non-negotiable rule in my household that they have to be up at 10:00 AM. The only exceptions for this rule is if they are sick or its their birthday. This leads to a lot of grumbling from my kids as I often times have to forcibly wake them up.”
She then added what her brother thought, saying, “He said that teenage boys will often sleep extremely late and me forcing them to get up early is preventing them from getting their proper amount of sleep.”
Granted, the mom isn’t sure if she is in the right or if her brother is right that she’s being too strict. That is why she needed Reddit to chime in with their opinions. And the internet was just as torn in their opinions as the mom was. One comment shared that teens tend to need to sleep more than adults, so they suggested the mom “check out some info on sleep.”
Someone else added a comment that read, “If you’d like to understand more about the health impacts that this rule is likely causing for these teenagers, I recommend the book ‘Why We Sleep’ by Matthew Walker. It’s really interesting, and very readable! Teenagers need to sleep later in the mornings. The time that is being taken away from them is not something they can ever get back.”
A different Reddit user shared their own personal story, explaining that as a teen they were forced to get up early as well, sharing that they felt a lot of “rage” as a child.
The comment further added, “Kids need their sleep. This idea that everyone has to wake up early everyday of their entire life is ridiculous. As long as they behave well and do well in school, let them sleep in.”
What do you think? Should teenagers be allowed to sleep in as long as they want or should they be woken up by a certain time? Who do you think is right, the mom or the uncle? Or both? Let us know!