A simple chart shared by thousands of Facebook users might help parents make their children's bedtimes more definite if they're living in fantasyland, some critics argue.
According to Pix 11 News, a teacher at Wilson Elementary School in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shared the chart that suggests when children should slumber based on their age and wake-up time.
Posted Aug. 28, the chart has been shared on Facebook more than 377,000 times.
Caroline Bologna of The Huffington Post wrote that answering the common back-to-school question, "At what time should your child go to bed?" is nice and all, but as many parents argued on social media, work, after-school activities and just the difficult task of getting kids to sleep in the first place make abiding by the chart a bit of a "pipe dream."
"No way in the world we would put our 8-year-olds to bed at 9 p.m. on a school night that's ridiculous!" wrote Kerry L. Tate.
To follow the chart, families wouldn't just have to alter their schedules; they'd have to drop most daily happenings, according to another parent.
"Maybe if they didn't have homework this would be possible, but being working parents, there's no time for everything to be done and in bed by the suggested time." wrote Rob Nuncio, according to The Huffington Post.
Bologna noted the chart is simply a suggestion, and required sleep often differs from child to child.
However, parents might find other guidelines helpful if the chart proves too unrealistic, according to The Huffington Post.
"We often give the general rule of thumb of '10 under 10,' meaning 10 hours for children under 10 years of age," pediatric sleep expert Jodi Mindell told The Huffington Post. "Also, multiple studies show that children who go to bed before 9 p.m. get much more sleep than those who go to bed later than 9 p.m."
According to Pix 11 News, a teacher at Wilson Elementary School in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shared the chart that suggests when children should slumber based on their age and wake-up time.
Posted Aug. 28, the chart has been shared on Facebook more than 377,000 times.
Caroline Bologna of The Huffington Post wrote that answering the common back-to-school question, "At what time should your child go to bed?" is nice and all, but as many parents argued on social media, work, after-school activities and just the difficult task of getting kids to sleep in the first place make abiding by the chart a bit of a "pipe dream."
"No way in the world we would put our 8-year-olds to bed at 9 p.m. on a school night that's ridiculous!" wrote Kerry L. Tate.
To follow the chart, families wouldn't just have to alter their schedules; they'd have to drop most daily happenings, according to another parent.
"Maybe if they didn't have homework this would be possible, but being working parents, there's no time for everything to be done and in bed by the suggested time." wrote Rob Nuncio, according to The Huffington Post.
Bologna noted the chart is simply a suggestion, and required sleep often differs from child to child.
However, parents might find other guidelines helpful if the chart proves too unrealistic, according to The Huffington Post.
"We often give the general rule of thumb of '10 under 10,' meaning 10 hours for children under 10 years of age," pediatric sleep expert Jodi Mindell told The Huffington Post. "Also, multiple studies show that children who go to bed before 9 p.m. get much more sleep than those who go to bed later than 9 p.m."
