SHOULD SUMMER TURN KIDS INTO NIGHT OWLS?

• Position: Brief Article

It's summertime and your kids are lobbying to stay up late. Should you allow them to and, if so, should they be permitted to do so night after night? While it is okay to show some flexibility in their bedtimes, nurse clinician Nancy Murray, Duke University, Durham, N.C., stresses that parents need to be reasonable. "It's fine if they stay up an hour later, but depending on your child, that may mean they need to sleep that extra hour the following morning." If youngsters participate in a sleep-over, which usually means late nights, have them nap the next day.

Murray says it is surprising how often parents don't monitor their kids' sleep habits--and then they wonder why their offspring are cranky and ill-behaved. "Children vary in their need for sleep, so it's not easy to recommend a fixed number of...