Sometimes when I watch the
morning news, the anchormen openly discuss what time they got up in the morning
to arrive at the studio – or at their field assignment – on time. What’s that?
They had to get up at 2 in the morning to prepare for a 4 a.m. broadcast? Going
to bed 7 in the evening is NOT glamorous, but HEY, let’s get real (didn’t see it coming so early in my column
did you!) you need a good night’s sleep to be able to function and perform
in your career if you want to be successful.
When I saw one of the reports
from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, coddling our
children because their school day starts too early, all I could think is – what
are these kids gonna do when they get out there in the REAL WORLD?
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| Sleep your school days away Junior! |
According to their studies,
“fewer than one in five middle and high schools in the U.S. began the school
day at the recommended 8:30 a.m. start time or later during the 2011-2012
school year." What’s the problem? The CDC says that too-early start times can
keep students from getting the sleep they need for health, safety and academic
success. Oh puh-lease!
Wahhhhhh! If city workers - like garbage men and highway construction crews, who
had to get up at 3 in the morning complained that they’re “not as productive as
they can be” because they don’t get enough sleep, we’d say – get another job
where you don’t have to hustle to earn a living.
The CDC’s report said that in
2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement urging
middle and high schools to modify their start times. Why? Do we want to spoil
our children into thinking they shouldn’t be hard workers the way adults have
to be in order to be productive?
Yes – students need ample
sleep after studying ‘X’ amount of hours. I understand they’ve got a hard life
of completing assignments and participating in extracurricular activities. But
what about a teacher who’s up late at night grading papers and has to take care
of her family? Doesn’t she deserve more sleep too? Noooo….just let the KIDS come in later so they could snooze
and extra hour while the rest of us are on our way to work!
In my opinion, they should
keep these students coming to school early and getting their day started early.
If they’re GOOD students – dedicated students – they and their parents will
manage their time efficiently so that there’s time to study, participate in
extracurricular activities and get
enough sleep.
What time do I get up in the
morning? Well, I have the luxury of living in Canarsie, not too far from where
I work, so I’m up at 7 to be at work at 9. But when I have to cover a meeting
in the evening, I’ve basically worked a 12-hour day and first settle in near 8
at night.
A couple of weeks ago, I had a
Community Education Council meeting at 7 p.m. While I only had a of couple
hours to “rejuvenate,” I also needed to keep up with my “extracurricular” hobby
of running three miles, which I complete almost every other day. The fact that
I had a meeting that night didn’t deter me! I came home, went out for my run
for an hour, came back, freshened up and went to my meeting! AND I had to write the article about the
meeting when I got home!
Whose fault is it that our
kids aren’t getting enough sleep? If they’re hanging out and wasting time,
they’re losing time that they could get their projects done and go to bed ON
TIME!
When you’re tired, who do you
have to blame? Usually no one but yourself! However, officials will have you
believe that our kids have it so bad that they should be babied until they
leave high school! Whose fault is this?
PARENTS!!!
Here’s a novel idea – maybe
if you keep them on an early schedule, the way a professional adult has to be,
they’ll learn good old fashioned work ethic values! They say insufficient sleep
is causing our kids to be overweight and use drugs. Whose fault is THIS?
PARENTS!!!!
I strongly believe the best
way to lead is by example. What example are we setting for youngsters if we cow
down to allowing them to go to school later – even if it’s by an hour? How
prepared will they be for college or a full time career – where they have to
get up at the crack of dawn – if their early years are spent mismanaging or
wasting their time so that they’re not sleeping enough?
Youngsters hate going back to
school and having to follow that “routine”. Soak it up kiddies –because guess
what, once you’re grown up and doing whatever it is that you’ve gone to school FOR, you won’t have those summer
vacations to sleep late and slack off. We need to prepare our kids for the
not-so-easy life of being an adult and being on a productive schedule. If you
don’t agree, go ahead and press the snooze button – the professionals will be
up and working while you’re in your tenth dream…
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