Today Lucy, our school nurse, led an online parent workshop all about sleep.
Together with her colleague, they shared some helpful tips about how to help children have a better night’s sleep. Children aged 6-12 should be getting between 9-12 hours sleep each night. They have busy days at school and need a lot of energy to help them learn and interact with their peers.
They emphasised the importance of a night time routine for children and gave tips such as:
- reduce/turn off screens an hour before bed, as the blue light reduces the melatonin that your brain produces
- have a bath to relax your body
- getting in the habit of brushing teeth before bed
- reading a story together
Some children struggle to get to sleep. This can be because of worries that they might have and so it can be helpful to talk through the day together and think of good things that have happened. It can also be helpful to do some breathing exercises to slow down breathing and help your child to relax. Lucy recommended a using our hand to make a star and then doing some deep breaths while tracing our fingers.
The NHS website has some advice for healthy sleeping for children.
The school Wellbeing page has more information about sleep.
If you have any more questions or concerns, please contact us and we can set up a meeting with Lucy and she can provide some more advice tailored to your child.
Thank you so much for this news post! It really does help a lot!
Thank you for posting this on the website!
Thank you for organising this very important workshop. It was great to go through some of the practical steps one can take and to know that parents can contact the school if they require tailored support.