DD is in bed early tonight for being an overtired crabby-pants after school and daycare today. She has a friend in our neighborhood (her mom and I are good friends also) who is the same age (4-almost-5). This little girl can be very sweet when she chooses to be, but more often than not is grumpy, moody, and whiny when we get together for play dates and such. I know my daughter certainly has her moments, but the majority of those are when she is overtired, or hungry - as long as she is rested and fed, she's happy and a lot of fun to be around. Her friend, on the other hand, almost always seems to be in a bad mood and whines and flips out at the drop of a hat. What I am curious about is how much of it could be her personality, how much of it is how her parents handle it, and how much could be sleep deprivation. Her mother tells me that she is never able to go the bed before 10 pm. They have tried putting her to bed earlier, but she will keep coming out of her room over and over, want to be downstairs, want to play more, watch TV, etc. until she finally decides she is tired enough to go to bed at 10 or 10:30. She is usually up between 6 and 7, and most days does NOT take a nap. So she's only getting maybe 8 to 9 hours of sleep a night and it seems to me she should be getting a lot more than that (my daughter averages 11 hours a night and sometimes still needs a 2 hour nap during the day). Could it be that some kids don't need as much? Or are her parents just not enforcing bedtime effectively? I feel kinda bad for her, because she always seems crabby and overtired whenever we get together.
Have her talk to her Ped.
My frineds Ped told her to give her sons melatonin (sp) it re-sets their sleep pattern and it usually only takes 8-12 weeks to do so. 1/2 hr. before bedtime they crush it in juice, the boys drink it , do their PM routine of teeth, pj's, books and boom they're out. She got it at GNC.
8-9 hr.s for a 4-5 yo is WAY too little sleep. they need 11-12 at that age.
At that age, they need about 11 hours so you can see she is not getting enough. I believe a lot of behavioral problems with kids (teenagers even) is due to sleep deprivation.
Sounds sleep deprived. I believe that all kids need sleep, but many don't believe that they do. My SIL used to argue because I would put my kids to bed around 7 and she would put my 4 yo nephew to bed around 9 with his Nintendo DS. He would play it until around midnight and then fall asleep, and be up around 7 the next morning. He was whiney and grumpy all the time. Finally she decided to try putting him to bed at 7 (without the DS) and although there was some whining, she was amazed that he fell asleep very quickly. He was up around 7 the next day and very pleasant. At times she has slipped into the old pattern and he slips back into an unpleasant child. With my kids, I know when they are over tired. They become very irritating, and my son gets very hyper. So, I think this child needs more sleep and her parents need to better enforce her bedtime instead of letting her decide.
Kids are just like grown ups. Some do need more sleep than others. Our boy is an 8 hour sleeper per day. If he takes a nap he will be up around 3am or 4am for the day and not go back to sleep until around 9pm that night. He does not need as much sleep. However, my daughter and granddaughter are both 12 hour sleepers. The can both go to bed at 9am and if undisturbed will sleep until 10-noon the next morning. Some need more and some need less.
I honestly thing parents should "almost" still force kids to lay down and nap/rest during the day as long as possible.
In kindergarten they still lay down the first half of the year. If your kids are not used to that it is going to be very hard on them to lay there for an hour or so while the other kids still sleep. They start encouraging the kids to no nap after the winter break. Some kids will be booted from the class after lunch because they disrupt naptime for the rest of the class. That stinks for those who work and can't take off work to go pick up their school kids and take them to child care.
So, kids should stay with the nap routine until they are in kindergarten. Even if they don't sleep their bodies get rest. If they won't do it then lay down with them, read, watch some quiet style tv show or movie, spend time making up stories, talk, it is time not wasted.
She sounds overtired. Her parents need to put her to bed earlier and have unpleasant consequences for her when she keeps coming out of her room.
Yes, the other child is probably overtired. A few people need less sleep than average a large number of children and adults are sleep deprived. I read about one study that showed children decreased in emotional maturity by the equivalent more than a year for every 15 minutes of sleep lost. My 6 year old still needs to be in bed by 8 or 8:30 or he is cranky--especially late in the day. Also many kids including mine get hyper when overtired so if this child was overtired she might not feel tired (this happens to me sometimes too).
Moving bedtimes earlier is hard to do all at once. Moving it back 15 or 20 minutes at a time and then getting used to it for a few days or a weeks works a little better.
