<p>Our kid just slept through two days of a seven day Florida vacation. My husband was pretty upset! Glad to know it’s not just us.</p>
<p>My HS and UG was pretty much structured with bfst and then school starting about 8 am. With a nursing double major, junior and senior year was three 8 hour clinical days, and had some clinicals as a sophomore. I would have one night out a week, and often sleep a heavy weekend day/evening. During the school week, I would work after early dinner (less than two hours manning the commercial dishwasher) then go to the library until it closed (10 pm), go to dorm room and get comfortable, then study in study space (we had rooms in dorm basement near mailboxes and laundry; I was the only one studying down there but thankfully school was in a safe suburban neighborhood). I had a real thirst for learning, so made sure I learned what I needed in all my classes. It was a great education and balanced life. I would feel a little guilty stopping at the newspaper table in the library spending time looking at current events. I couldn’t understand the students in the TV room following their TV programs.</p>
<p>My first nursing job was second shift, and for years I thought I wasn’t a morning person, but I have found if I ‘reset’ my biologic clock and get into a pattern…</p>
<p>I agree with all the comments made about the electronics also having young people doing communication late into the night. We drove a long stretch (850 miles) so we could hear the pinging of DD’s electronic device with mostly snap chat. DD’s room-mate was on a cruise (I guess needing her social network beyond her family and the entertainment there, or to talk about what is going on).</p>
<p>The most troubling to me is the ‘addiction’ of gaming - smart kids totally wasting so many hours a day. Teenage (and earlier) years are terrible for all kinds of addictions - alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc.</p>
<p>Mine are doing fine in school but they will sleep til noon. I don’t get it, as i never really did that when I was their age, but whatever - I’ll let them sleep. I figure their bodies need it. </p>
<p>I told my S last week that one of the best things I taught him was the ability to relax and do nothing! Both of my kids are hard workers but can sleep to noon when they have the chance. Let them have the chance. Who cares if they are on a different schedule? as long as they show up for family events. S starts a full time job after graduation and will be working 12-14 hours day. The opportunity to do this comes to an end - let them have it now.</p>
<p>And another thing that bugs me is more than half the time, he’s up for a couple hours until 2or3, leaves then we don’t see him again be ause he’s usually out until we are in bed. I’m usually ready for him to o bak to school at the end of 3weeks.</p>
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<h1>“In some cases, they’re really not sleeping a LOT more hours, it’s just that they’re “up all night” doing what they want, then they crash around 3 am…and sleep til noon.”</h1>
<p>@mom2collegekids, you are so right. That’s exactly what my son does on weekends and winter break (he is a teacher), plays computer games into the wee hours, then gets up at noon the next day, often times takes a nap in the afternoon also. Having said that, he will grade a huge stack of essays/projects over winter break, and he actually enjoys that.</p>
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<p>lol…see I have another point of view towards this…</p>
<p>Part of it is that their friends are doing the same thing, and everyone is on social media/texting til the wee hours…</p>
<p>but they also like this “up til wee hours and then sleep till noon”…(JMO) because no one is asking them to do much once they’re finally up or late at night…so almost totally free time. When they sleep in…they miss many of the chores/duties that are going on…once they finally tumble out of bed…eat…shower/dress…check what friends are doing…it’s often too late for them to actually do any chores other than what’s absolutely necessary (laundry, etc). </p>
<p>OMG Mom2collegekids, you got it right about sleeping in and avoiding chores or any family responsibilities! In fact I have to bite my tongue to keep from asking my other early rising daughter to do things around the house all the time just because she’s available. </p>
<p>It’s good to know that we’re not the only ones with day sleepers. I certainly can relate about traveling with the kids and being frustrated trying to get them up to go sightseeing. I think also being up all hours chatting on social media contributes. Thanks for everyone’s input. Even when I was writing I thought of how silly it was for something like this to get on my nerves</p>
<p>Sleeping until one AND napping before bed would concern me. Sleeping late, yeah…they all do that. </p>
<p>Is she feeling ok? I have one home from overseas and she slept long nights, but not naps also, even after the flight. </p>
<p>. </p>
<p>My S1 is almost 28 years old. He stays up reading late into the night and is hooked on the NPR" Serial" podcast. </p>
<p>We were expected to be at my brother’s house the day after Christmas at 1:30. Takes us about 40 min. to get there. I had to drag S1 out of bed at 11:15. THEN, he just had to go for a run, chug a protein shake and THEN take a shower…arrgh! He’s a Navy Officer so he has an early start every day but sheesh! </p>
<p>Why does it matter?</p>
<p>If they’re not missing work or other responsibilities, let them sleep. If it’s THAT important to you that they be up and about for chores, family responsibilities, etc. then frankly it’s on you to set that expectation. You’re the parent. If it’s making you that upset, just ask them to chip in.</p>
<p>The reason they’re probably on social media is because during that time (12am-3am) they’re probably still awake, studying, so that’s the rhythm they’ve set for themselves. I’m still getting out of that habit 6 months post-grad school graduation.</p>
<p>I was always so thankful that when I came home for breaks my parents would just let me sleep. That was how I “caught up” from stressful semesters and juggling other responsibilities. Even now, as someone who works pretty much 24/7, I use breaks to catch up on much-needed sleep. There are nights where I’m answering duty calls until 6AM (I kid you not.) My work is pretty understanding and often will let me take the morning off after a night like that, but that still only leaves 4-5 hours of sleep if I’m going to get up and be ready to work in the afternoon. Weekends also hold responsibilities for me a lot of the time, so breaks really are needed to catch up.</p>
<p>Like I said, if it’s an expectation for the student to be up at X time, that should be made clear from the beginning. If not…well, you really only have yourself to blame. </p>
<p>I think sleep is vitally important. And I think that if you’re sleeping that late, your body really needs it (absent some other reason to suspect an illness). So I’m ok letting it go. I know they’re responsible at school, get up on time, etc.</p>
<p>@Pizzagirl </p>
<p>Sleep is VERY important…no argument there. But, if they’re up til 3-4 am on social media, watching TV, texting friends, or hanging out with friends, then the reason they’re sleeping til noon isn’t because they need “additional” sleep…they’re just getting the same 8/9 hours they would get if they went to bed at 11pm and got up at 8am. </p>
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<p>:)</p>
<p>The fact is that if their free time is between 3pm - 3 am (a 12 hour period) how much will they be expected to do? Practically nothing.</p>
<p>Again, I’m struggling to see why that matters. They’re probably not trashing the house or making life harder for others…so what’s the issue?</p>
<p>I’m with HGFM. It’s never made a lick of sense to me why people need to be up by a certain time. I used to have friends that weren’t allowed to sleep past 9 or whatever on weekends. </p>
<p>If you need your kids to do something, tell them to do it. I’m a late person and my mom is an early bird. Often, I’ll load the dishes and run the dishwasher overnight and she’ll unload in the morning. There’s no chores I can think of that <em>need</em> to be done early in the day. <em>shrug</em> </p>
<p>Could it be that the sleep schedule is a part of the process of breaking away from parents? It precludes participation in family activities, while returning to the “womb.” </p>
<p>DS2, age 23, in grad school, sleeps until 2:00 PM. It drives me a bit nuts because he does avoid chores.
DS1, age 26, did the same thing and his first job after college graduation was an overnight job. Now he works from noon until 9:00 PM. He does chores now and is generally pleasant. Both boys have held daytime jobs, but prefer later start times.</p>
<p>I try not to mind their schedules. When I am honest with myself, I realize that I am bothered by their night owl habits because I miss spending time with them. I try to stay up late enough to chat with my kids and their childhood friends who drop by, often after my bedtime. I love hearing about their adventures and plans.
I know I will miss them when they move out.</p>
<p>same here, romani. If my parents want something done they’ll just say, “Hey, HGFM, make sure you do XYZ.” I have to do it pretty early in the evening because my family all go to bed pretty early, but I’m more of a night owl, so I’ll do it shortly after they go to bed when I’m just ramping up for the evening.</p>
<p>merlin–again, I think that’s something you can set expectations for or at least compromise. My parents are pretty good about letting my time be my own when I’m home, but especially now that I have fewer friends in my hometown they’ll tell me they expect me home for dinner on certain nights, especially if they’ve made arrangements for other family members to come over.</p>
<p>Now that I have a “real” job I don’t tend to sleep quite as late. I also go back an hour when I go home, so that helps. I’m usually up by 8 or 9AM just because on most days we’re expected to be in the office by 9AM unless we had a really late night. </p>
<p>I’m amazed at how many kids sleep past noon when they have the chance, as that hasn’t been a problem for us. My oldest has never been able to sleep past 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning, ever. Even is she is up late, she is awake (not always by choice) at sunrise or shortly after. She has always been a morning person- takes after her dad. She just returned from a trip across the world, was exhausted and slept a full eight hours, but awake and up at 7:30 even though she would have loved more rest.
My son, who is probably the biggest sleeper in the family, is still up around 10am even on the laziest vacation days. </p>
<p>I really get merlin’s comment, as what would bother me the most about chronic late sleeping hours is that it cuts out the “hanging around the house” time that is so precious for us once our kids are gone. I know the kids don’t get it because they don’t have that same need. I will say that even though mine are up at a reasonable hour that it doesn’t mean I necessarily get to interact with them a lot more. Nor does it mean they do more chores, lol. Many vacation days my son gets up by 10:00 but he’s out the door at 10:30 to meet with HS friends for breakfast. My Dd often uses the early mornings to catch up on news online and social media - quiet time for herself. But at least she’s in the house.</p>
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DS used to have a seemingly “relaxed” schedule when he was home for break as a college student. Not any more. I do not know what has caused the change.</p>
<p>He still does not get up very early though. He may get up at 9:30 am, or 10 am the latest. Then he may immediately go to gym or just go out running (the weather tends to be nice on most days here.) and then take a shower.</p>
<p>During this break, he seems to get a lot things done, things that he could not afford to do when the school is in session.</p>
<p>He hates to use social media in general This might be one of the reasons why his ex and he broke up over a year ago.</p>
<p>Actually, his “master” (a faculty whose family are living with students in the residential college/dorm) fully convinced him that it is not a very good life style to rely too much on the social media. He once went to such an extreme that he deleted his Facebook account altogether during one college year!</p>
<p>Well, I think it is kind of slothful to hang out in bed til 3 pm (absent an off beat work schedule of course). I’m totally sympathetic to my kids crashing after having worked so hard at finals, but really after the first few days, pull it together and at least awaken by noon and join the human race. </p>
<p>^^^We just got back from a trip to Germany. In the winter, it gets dark about 4-4:30 pm. I asked both my girls to please be up by 9am so we could maximize our time. They weren’t crazy about the idea, but understood the rationale.</p>
<p>Even when I was in college, I was an early riser. Even if I’d stayed out late, I’d wake up well before 10 or 11. I think SOME of it is internal wiring.</p>
<p>I think some people who are just wired to be up late and sleep all day make great night shift nurses! Many of them told me they could NEVER EVER EVER be happy having to get up at 4:30 or 5:00 am to make the day shift. And I was just the opposite. I’d get light headed and nauseated every morning around 2 am. When I made a medication error (thank God it was a very minor one), my boss finally believed night shift wasn’t for me and switched me over to day shift pronto.</p>