Perhaps you’re a morning person, raising children who are morning people. You’ve never put your children in the car in pajamas because they refused to get dressed for school in a timely fashion. Your stomach doesn’t somersault as you sit stuck in traffic wondering how you can possibly drop your child at the before-school childcare program in time to avoid being late for work. You don’t wrestle backpacks and lunches into submission, sign permission slips stuffed hastily in your face at the stoplight closest to your child’s school, mumbling all the while, “Why didn’t you take care of this last night?” Instead, everyone wakes up chipper and cheerful, ready to take on the day with a smile.
Maybe your children are good sleepers, the kind who drop off instantly as soon as you kiss them good night. They don’t ask you to check for monsters under the bed, bring them one last glass of water, tell them one more story. They don’t get up half an hour after bedtime, panicked because they suddenly remembered projects or cookies or supplies due the next day. No one’s dance class or sports practice ends at 8 p.m., after which dinner and homework and showers still await. None of your children have after school jobs. Bedtimes are consistent, uninterrupted, and calm.
If you are the kind of family for whom nighttime and morning routines run like clockwork, I salute you, I envy you, and I freely admit that I will never be like you. I also suspect school start times aren’t a source of difficulty.
For those of us who don’t handle morning routines well, perhaps because we don’t handle nighttime routines well, dragging sleep-deprived teens and preteens out of bed and into the academic world has long been a source of stress. In the 1990s, pediatricians began pushing for later school start times for middle and high schoolers, positing that their developing brains both need more rest and have a harder time achieving restful sleep. This leaves adolescents sleep-deprived, affecting their learning, social interactions, and physical health.
Since the initial studies in the early 90s, teens have added a plethora of distractions to their nights. Cell phones, Netflix, and social media all impede a good night’s sleep, especially when combined with the biology of the growing teen brain. Science seems to indicate that students benefit from later school start times. To that end, California legislators voted last week to approve SB 328, a bill which prohibits middle and high schools from starting earlier than 8:30 am. If Gov. Jerry Brown approves this bill, it will affect school districts across the state. The move was lauded by many as a scientifically proven benefit to the health, safety, and academic progress of teens.
For those of us who aren’t morning people, grouchy parents with grouchy kids, on the surface this seems like a godsend. We’ll have a little more time in the morning; we can hit the ground strolling instead of running.
On closer analysis though, difficulties will increase for those who greet the dawn with grumbling. We who spend mornings hollering at our teens to hurry up, muttering curses through gritted teeth at every red light, and screeching into the parking lots of our own workplaces just before the workday is set to begin are already dreading this change.
It’s unlikely that work schedules statewide will change to accommodate the later school day. Suddenly we are confronted with transportation issues. We face the added cost of before-school childcare for pre-teens or younger teens. We worry about our children wandering unsupervised on campus each morning, after we drop them off at the same time we’ve always dropped them off because we have nowhere else to park them in the mornings.
As a teacher, of course I want the healthiest, most productive situation possible for my students. I want them to come to school rested and ready to learn. Best practices based on science and brain research are a source of nerdy delight for me. I’d love to see the school at which I work return to a 9 am start time.
As a mom, however, I am annoyed at the overreach of the nanny state. Although brain research shows that teens benefit from more sleep, anecdotal observation demonstrates that both teens and their parents are served by a low-stress environment. While a late start time might be the perfect fix for some school districts, it will also throw some households into morning chaos, as adolescents’ desire for “Let me sleep a few more minutes, Mom. I don’t start school until 8:30,” clashes with “I need to be at work at 8!”
Gov. Brown has yet to sign SB 328; this sleepy, grouchy mom has her fingers crossed that he won’t.
