MCPS High School 7:45am for teens is to early

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also the problem is kids have too much screen time which makes it hard to go to sleep. If they need to do sone homework on a computer make sure they do that before dinner. When they don’t start homework until late it will mess with melatonin. Be the parent and limit screen time before bed and it will work wonders.

Maybe your kids buy when do they have time. Mine have activities, tutoring and homework. That’s a parenting issue.

Sounds like your parenting issue is overscheduling your kids.....

Having my kids involved with sports and music to enrich their lives, which is also their choice, is not over scheduling. Utilizing the free tutoring MCPS is providing as a support is not over-scheduling. And, yet, my kids are just fine with the school schedule and don't need extra sleep like yours do. Maybe if your kids were involved in more activities they'd be tired and could go to bed and it would keep them off social media/electronics.

Huh? I'm the first PP- I never said my kids were spending too much time on social media/screens. But there is plenty of evidence that screentime before bed makes it harder to sleep and I notice that myself anecdotally if I'm on the computer or watching TV right before bed. It's more of a reminder that if your kids are having trouble falling asleep, shift the screen activities earlier and see if that makes a difference. Which I know, is hard with all the homework being on a Chromebook. If this isn't a problem with your kids, move on. If your kids are already in high school, there is zero chance MCPS will disrupt your ideal schedule so don't worry.

Clearly it’s an issue in your home as you are commenting. Screen time is not the issue.

JFC lady I’m trying to help people who say their kids can’t fall asleep at night. No one ever complained about kids not being able to fall asleep at night in the 80s, I wonder why…..

Of course kids had trouble falling asleep at night. In the 80's there were plenty of other ways to stay up late from phones, video games, magazines, books, etc...

But no 80s parents were wringing their hands over teen circadian rhythms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a national movement to push back HS start times. Here is the local MCPS group:


https://www.startschoollater.net/md---montgomery-county.html.

And a letter from the MC Chapter Leader:

https://www.startschoollater.net/uploads/9/7/9/6/9796500/final_ssl_montgomery_county_2022_election_letter.pdf

This organization is a money grab selling the the leadership's books...

While you may feel that way, I do know the local chapter leader personally; nothing on her end re selling books/stuff or $$ grab. Honestly believes it's the best and right thing to do for the students.

Neat. It’s not happening here. Adapt or move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to hs in the 90s and our start time was 7:10. I wasn’t on a cell phone. It was brutal and looking back I strongly believe my hs years and my entire friggin trajectory in life would’ve been better if I didn’t have to wake up by 6am. I won’t do this to my kids.

Are you always this absurdly melodramatic, or only on DCUM?

The chronic sleep deprivation heavily contributed to my first major depressive episode at 16. The consequences of which reverberated throughout the following years. It's not melodrama.

You lack resilience. That’s not anyone else’s problem and start times aren’t going to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25156998/
"The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly supports the efforts of school districts to optimize sleep in students and urges high schools and middle schools to aim for start times that allow students the opportunity to achieve optimal levels of sleep (8.5-9.5 hours) and to improve physical (eg, reduced obesity risk) and mental (eg, lower rates of depression) health, safety (eg, drowsy driving crashes), academic performance, and quality of life."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27040474/
"Insufficient sleep in adolescents has been shown to be associated with a wide variety of adverse outcomes, from poor mental and physical health to behavioral problems and lower academic grades. However, most high school students do not get sufficient sleep. Delaying school start times for adolescents has been proposed as a policy change to address insufficient sleep in this population and potentially to improve students' academic performance, reduce engagement in risk behaviors, and improve health. "

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34073415/
"Survey-weighted multivariate regression modeling was used to investigate associations between school start times, sleep duration, and mental health. Schools with late start times (≥8:30 a.m.) saw 32.2% (95% Confidence Interval: 29.5-35.0) of students sleeping 8 h or more relative to 23.2% (22.0-24.4) in schools with very early start times (<8:00 a.m.). For every 15 min later school start time, students' sleep duration was 4.6 (3.4-5.9) min longer. Students attending schools with very early start times had 1.10 (0.95-1.27) times the odds of attempting suicide compared to those attending schools with later start times, while students at schools with early starts (8:00-8:29 a.m.) were associated with 1.11 (0.98-1.27) times the odds." and "Schools with start times before 8:30 a.m. had 10-11% higher odds of students attempting suicide compared to schools with late start times, though these differences were not statistically significant. Student mental health should continue to be investigated when assessing the potential impacts of delayed school start times. "

But who needs science?

Lots of science denying on DCUM.

How about a study looking at bad parenting and bed times? You can easily do a study to get the results you want and not look at other factors. There is far more harm to kids getting out late. Many steady have hours of homework and activities at night so they will get even less sleep, not more. Send your kids to bed. Be the parent, not friend if they need more sleep.

You don’t punish the rest of our kids and make them give up sports and activities and work or volunteering because your kids refuse to go to bed and you refuse to enforce a bed time.

+1. And all the BLAH BLAH BLAH CIRCADIAN RHYTHM shriekers, if their kids were really soooooo nonfunctionally exhausted by early start times at the beginning of the year, then when they were sooooo exhausted, if they stopped screwing around went to bed as soon as homework was done, they would get onto the school’s sleep schedule. But we can’t have that, because privileged parents love their outrage and to coddle their teenagers.

[Anonymous]

So many parents fail to enforce reasonable bedtimes long before than the teen years and then it’s too late once they actually have to be up early for something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many parents fail to enforce reasonable bedtimes long before than the teen years and then it’s too late once they actually have to be up early for something.

You can enforce bedtimes, you can’t enforce falling asleep.

Some of you are very invested in maintaining the status quo, almost like you’re worried or something. Strange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many parents fail to enforce reasonable bedtimes long before than the teen years and then it’s too late once they actually have to be up early for something.

You can enforce bedtimes, you can’t enforce falling asleep.

Some of you are very invested in maintaining the status quo, almost like you’re worried or something. Strange.

I'm not an MCPS parent, but I'm in another school that has raised the same question.

I feel like my time with my high schooler is so limited. My work hours aren't flexible at all, and so the idea that he'd get home 2 hours later, and have 2 hours less family time, 2 hours less time for me to help with HW before I need to go to sleep, things I think he needs, does worry me. Since he's already sleeping the hours he needs, usually about 9:30 to 6:30, I assume he'd be trading those 2 hours unsupervised in the morning, or 2 hours after the rest of the family is asleep. That doesn't seem healthy at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many parents fail to enforce reasonable bedtimes long before than the teen years and then it’s too late once they actually have to be up early for something.

You can enforce bedtimes, you can’t enforce falling asleep.

Some of you are very invested in maintaining the status quo, almost like you’re worried or something. Strange.

I'm not an MCPS parent, but I'm in another school that has raised the same question.

I feel like my time with my high schooler is so limited. My work hours aren't flexible at all, and so the idea that he'd get home 2 hours later, and have 2 hours less family time, 2 hours less time for me to help with HW before I need to go to sleep, things I think he needs, does worry me. Since he's already sleeping the hours he needs, usually about 9:30 to 6:30, I assume he'd be trading those 2 hours unsupervised in the morning, or 2 hours after the rest of the family is asleep. That doesn't seem healthy at all.

I'm also not an MCPS parent, but your concerns work both ways. My son left for the bus at 6:30 a.m. and got home at 2:00 p.m. I would much rather have had breakfast with him and hung out in the morning than have him home alone for three hours each afternoon. The early dismissal provided no additional family time for working parents. I think that MCPSS has activity buses, but if a high school does not have activity buses, it meant leaving work at 2:30 p.m. to pick up or arranging for rides for activities. A later start time better aligns with work hours and makes picking up easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many parents fail to enforce reasonable bedtimes long before than the teen years and then it’s too late once they actually have to be up early for something.

You can enforce bedtimes, you can’t enforce falling asleep.

Some of you are very invested in maintaining the status quo, almost like you’re worried or something. Strange.

I'm not an MCPS parent, but I'm in another school that has raised the same question.

I feel like my time with my high schooler is so limited. My work hours aren't flexible at all, and so the idea that he'd get home 2 hours later, and have 2 hours less family time, 2 hours less time for me to help with HW before I need to go to sleep, things I think he needs, does worry me. Since he's already sleeping the hours he needs, usually about 9:30 to 6:30, I assume he'd be trading those 2 hours unsupervised in the morning, or 2 hours after the rest of the family is asleep. That doesn't seem healthy at all.

I'm also not an MCPS parent, but your concerns work both ways. My son left for the bus at 6:30 a.m. and got home at 2:00 p.m. I would much rather have had breakfast with him and hung out in the morning than have him home alone for three hours each afternoon. The early dismissal provided no additional family time for working parents. I think that MCPSS has activity buses, but if a high school does not have activity buses, it meant leaving work at 2:30 p.m. to pick up or arranging for rides for activities. A later start time better aligns with work hours and makes picking up easier.

Get up, have breakfast with him and drive him.

We have to arrange our schedules to dive our kid to an activity after school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many parents fail to enforce reasonable bedtimes long before than the teen years and then it’s too late once they actually have to be up early for something.

You can enforce bedtimes, you can’t enforce falling asleep.

Some of you are very invested in maintaining the status quo, almost like you’re worried or something. Strange.

I'm not an MCPS parent, but I'm in another school that has raised the same question.

I feel like my time with my high schooler is so limited. My work hours aren't flexible at all, and so the idea that he'd get home 2 hours later, and have 2 hours less family time, 2 hours less time for me to help with HW before I need to go to sleep, things I think he needs, does worry me. Since he's already sleeping the hours he needs, usually about 9:30 to 6:30, I assume he'd be trading those 2 hours unsupervised in the morning, or 2 hours after the rest of the family is asleep. That doesn't seem healthy at all.

I'm also not an MCPS parent, but your concerns work both ways. My son left for the bus at 6:30 a.m. and got home at 2:00 p.m. I would much rather have had breakfast with him and hung out in the morning than have him home alone for three hours each afternoon. The early dismissal provided no additional family time for working parents. I think that MCPSS has activity buses, but if a high school does not have activity buses, it meant leaving work at 2:30 p.m. to pick up or arranging for rides for activities. A later start time better aligns with work hours and makes picking up easier.

Get up, have breakfast with him and drive him.

We have to arrange our schedules to dive our kid to an activity after school.

Why are you so invested in the status quo? I've had it both ways with my kids, and a later start is so much better..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Get up, have breakfast with him and drive him.

We have to arrange our schedules to dive our kid to an activity after school.

The more people adopt the "drive them to school" plan, the worse the "drive them to school" plan will work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Get up, have breakfast with him and drive him.

We have to arrange our schedules to dive our kid to an activity after school.

The more people adopt the "drive them to school" plan, the worse the "drive them to school" plan will work.

+1 Exactly. Maybe if your school is a mile or two away from your home, but driving for most of us doesn't provide that much more sleep for kids and cuts into our work day.

[Anonymous]

Those of you who are skeptical about teenagers needing more sleep and their changing circadian rhythms should ask your children’s doctor or any teen psychologist that you know. See what they say about later high school start times and whether MCPS is behind the curve on this issue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those of you who are skeptical about teenagers needing more sleep and their changing circadian rhythms should ask your children’s doctor or any teen psychologist that you know. See what they say about later high school start times and whether MCPS is behind the curve on this issue

I know they almost need as much sleep as younger children, but that's why I make my teens go to bed early. It's not that hard if you take the phones away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of you who are skeptical about teenagers needing more sleep and their changing circadian rhythms should ask your children’s doctor or any teen psychologist that you know. See what they say about later high school start times and whether MCPS is behind the curve on this issue

I know they almost need as much sleep as younger children, but that's why I make my teens go to bed early. It's not that hard if you take the phones away.

There's no perfect choice. MCPS made the best possible one, and that's how we're where we are now...