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Morning Blues
Get Your Teen out of Bed
By Laura Paul
Mike Stilwell, a stay-at-home father in Alexandria, Va., felt like a "snooze alarm." His 17-year-old son, Patrick, often had trouble rolling out of bed in the morning and making it to school on time. On a typical day, Stilwell told Patrick it was time to get up, and then he went about his own morning routine. Five minutes later, Stilwell called for Patrick again, but Patrick was still in a deep slumber.
"It got to the point where he was using us like a snooze alarm, and he would know we were going to come back in five minutes so he would fall back asleep," Stilwell says. As a result, this father would actually go into his teen's room and stand there until the boy actually got out of bed and put his feet on the floor.
Experts say sleep deprivation is a common problem for teenagers who often have social events until late at night and are expected to be at school in the early morning. Unbeknownst to many parents, teenagers may become moody or have increased appetites due to sleep deprivation, and teens actually need more sleep than the average child or adult.
Stilwell, a self-proclaimed "morning person," says it took about a month before Patrick began to get up on his own without nagging and prodding. This year, Patrick has only missed the school bus once.
To achieve this positive outcome, the Stilwells made some fundamental changes in Patrick's evening routing. They encouraged Patrick to get his backpack and school supplies ready in the evening. "The only thing he had to do was get up and take care of his personal items," says Stilwell.
