More on the subject of sleep
So, I covered what it was like when the adult was missing sleep. But, when children are sleep deprived, it is most definitely an ugly and pathetic sight to see. How many times have you been in a restaurant or store and see a small child rubbing his eyes and usually whining but not necessarily crying? How many times have you, because that’s just what life does, found yourself feeling that same way at some time or another.
You studied to late, or partied too much and then you have to get yourself up and moving. And, generally it causes you to be irritable. So, it only stands to reason, in my mind anyway, that if small babies react this way when they are short on sleep and adults are agitating and difficult to deal with when they are sleep deprived, then the folks in the middle (children, generally ages 5 to 18) most definitely suffer from the problems of sleep deprivation as well.
I made an observation many years ago while teaching that a large number of children are sleep deprived and then it manifest itself in behavioral problems. And, parents fail to see the problem. What they see is a child who is getting in trouble at school. What the teacher see’s is a child who is restless and tired. With so much going on after school these days, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that our school age children are sleep deprived and in many cases, getting enough zzz’s would solve a lot of the problems that occur in the daily run of the mill classroom across America.
There’s an article on Blissfully Domestic that addresses this exact same set of circumstances. Children being sleep deprived, feeling exhausted and tired and then acting out because what they really need is some sleep.
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