Kids thrive when healthy boundaries are in place.
One middle school teacher begs parents to please keep phones out of kids’ bedrooms at night!
Parents, please listen to what one teacher shared with us about helping kids get much needed sleep:
“I teach middle school, and we have many, many students who are falling asleep in class all day because they take their phones to bed and stay up on them, sometimes all night.”
“The kids admit it and even brag they were texting each other at 3:30 a.m.. When I ask parents about this, they say they tell the children they can’t use the phones and their kids promise to go to sleep, but parents won’t confiscate the devices. They say they don’t want to make the kids mad. When I ask who pays for the service, they look confused.”
“Parents, please, please understand that if you let middle schoolers take their phones to bed with them, no matter what they promise you, they won’t go to sleep! It’s such a huge temptation. Help them resist by taking that phone and locking it away if you have to. Our children desperately need sleep to grow and learn!”
Great advice! EVERY. SINGLE. EXPERT from pediatricians to internet safety gurus to child psychologists agrees that phones DO. NOT. belong in the bedroom at night.
Establish a curfew for the device to checked in with you. Ideally this will be at least one hour before lights are out. Our devices should go to bed long before we do. Down time before sleep time is huge!
Be sure to also establish a curfew on the device itself through parental controls. On an iPhone – Settings > Downtime > Toggle on > Enter down time .
Don’t cave to “I need my phone to wake up in the morning.” Get an old school alarm clock for each of your kids.
Talk to your kids about the importance of sleep and the crucial role it plays in physical and mental health. Sleep makes a big difference on the academic front too.
Kids thrive with healthy boundaries. It is our job to establish and enforce them. You’ve got this parents. 
