Every Year We Go Through This Same Ritual

So, you spent the last two months working hard at being lazy. You have done practically no work of any kind, spending all of your time on the couch playing video games, watching movies, or just hanging out. No mental activity past where to find the junk food you have hidden around the house. Oh ya, your diet could not have been worse. The fact that you are sleeping till the middle of the afternoon makes it difficult to get more than one real meal a day, so you have been supplementing with potato chips and soda.

Then your parents tell you school starts in two weeks.

This is what we do to our kids every year. They have a summer off and develop so many bad habits, it has become the working man's dream. Then we change their entire world in two, or fewer, weeks. Then we, the adults, expect them, the kids, to not have let themselves be lazy, and be ready to start the school year off fresh, focused, and with a strong work ethic to get good grades.

'Cause that's the way we come back from our 1 week off from work we get 2 or 3 times a year. Sure.

Now is the time to help them “right” themselves, and re-establish the correct behaviors for school. I suggest tackling the sleep patterns first. I have teen-agers. They have not seen the “AM” on a clock that was not preceded by 1:00 since June. Their sleep cycle has been completely destroyed. I suggest attacking the problem from both sides.

Help them fall a sleep at a reasonable time. Most of us have difficulty falling a sleep at a new time. We toss and turn for hours getting frustrated, but persevere because we know we need too. I would start with a sub-lingual melatonin supplement to bring on sleep more quickly. Try about 3mg to start. Melatonin is considered safe with few, if any, side effects that most never experience. It is a natural hormone that promotes sleep.

I also suggest waking them up earlier each day. This will also help them get used to the needed sleep cycle. Again, I have teen-agers so I plan to use a tool designedperfectly for the job, but you should use what ever your kids respond too.