How Much Sleep is Enough?

Now that my son has started kindergarten, he seems to be more tired than he was before he went to school every day. We had been letting him to go bed at his regular pre-kindergarten bedtime of around 8 pm or so, but that really didn't seem to be working, especially after all the stories, books, stalling tactics, bathroom trips, and requests for glasses of water.

I started thinking about how much sleep he really got at night, and how much was really necessary for a 5-year-old. Most pediatricians contend that children ages 3 to 6 need between 10-3/4 and 12 hours of sleep daily. With most children no longer napping at age 5, it becomes really necessary to make sure they get enough sleep at night. With my son I can really tell when he hasn't gotten enough sleep, and indeed lack of sleep can result in behavior problems like defiance, aggression, acting out, and hyperactivity.

We've successfully bumped bedtime down to 7 pm, shooting for a 7:30 lights-out time after teeth brushing, bedtime stories, etc. This seems to be working really well, and has actually made getting him to bed at night a lot easier because he isn't overtired.

WebMD.com has a great online article about the amounts of sleep needed by children of all ages; you can read it here. Now if we can just solve the problem of parents not getting enough sleep we'll have it made.