If your morning routine at home involves several trips to the bedroom to make sure your child is awake, chances are your Sleeping Beauty isn't getting enough sleep.
While most kids don't spring out of bed every morning, the ones who can regularly wake up without an alarm clock -- or constant reminders from Mom and Dad -- are more likely to be well rested. Sleep patterns in children and adults follow what is known as the circadian rhythm, which determines how easily we fall asleep, stay asleep, wake up in the morning and maintain a level of alertness during the day. Disrupting that rhythm can lead to sleep problems.
The need for a certain amount of sleep is fixed for each person. A typical 6-year-old requires an average of nine to 10 hours per night, although the actual range is seven to 12 hours.
Children who consistently go to bed too late to meet their minimum needs can suffer fatigue, irritability and diminished performance at school.
"American society seems to be built on the theory that sleep is optional," said Dr. Gerald Rosen, medical director for the Pediatric Sleep Disorders Program at Children's Hospitals and Clinics in Minneapolis and St. Paul. "Kids lead such scheduled lives and parents seem to think they can forgo sleep, but they can't."
Early to bed, early to rise
Erin Erickson, co-host of the "Mom Enough" weekly podcasts, has two children, Clara, 7, and McKinley, 5. Her goal as a parent "is to get them to bed early enough every night so I don't have to wake them up in the morning."
Both kids are pretty successful at that, said Erickson, but McKinley has always required a lot of sleep. Until the start of kindergarten several weeks ago, he was still taking two-hour naps daily.