Weird west parenting7/13/2023 ![]() Eventually, they may lose the ability to hear their body’s tiredness signals, having had that opportunity regularly taken away from them. They may begin to distrust themselves, believing that others know their body better than they do and that what they feel is unimportant. When we try to control a child’s sleep and force them to bed at set times we interrupt their learning about their own bodies. Could these social facts be connected? I strongly suspect they are.” – John Holt “I can’t help noting that no cultures in the world that I have ever heard of make such a fuss about children’s bedtimes, and no cultures have so many adults who find it so hard either to go to sleep or wake up. In these cultures, infants sleep when tired, on or next to a caregiver instead of separate, they breastfeed on demand, and night waking is accepted. ![]() In non-Western societies, children have far fewer sleep ‘problems’ (or maybe more accurately parents are less troubled by their children’s sleep), likely due to the fact that they are far less controlling around sleep. ![]() Problems arise when adults try to control their children’s sleep in order to make it fit an idea of how they believe children should sleep. We all need it! So it makes no sense that people would require others to decide on a sleep schedule for them. Children are capable of listening to their bodies Instead, it can be an opportunity to support a child’s autonomy and learning about themselves. Yes even 1-year-olds and 3-year-olds.īedtime doesn’t have to be a struggle or a fight. Everyone happily announces when they are ready for sleep and enjoys going to bed. In our house, bedtime is not a bad thing. Even very young children, when free from control, make decisions that are beneficial for them. While many people think children are incapable of this kind of decision, they prove to me every day that is untrue. Parenting 8 Reasons NOT to Give Kids a BedtimeĪpart from a short period with our oldest two where we fell into a bedtime habit before realising our mistake, it has always been this way.įrom birth, through infancy, as toddlers (which some of them still are), and into childhood, they have known and trusted their own bodies.
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