Question:
My teenage son 14 is going to start school schedule an hour earlier than he is accustomed to. For all of his elementary and junior high years, school started at 8:45am. Now high school will require him to be in his school seat by 7:45am Even with the late start during the early years, he was problematic in getting up and out on time. I am concerned that it will continue to be an complete uphill battle for the upcoming summer school term. Any suggestions?Answer:
ParentingTeensOnline expert, Donna Secor Pennington, LMSW, has been a school social worker at the high school level for twenty years and has been an advocate for programs and services for teens and parents. She answers:
As you have learned by now, some of us are “slow starters” in the morning by our basic temperaments. In addition, the natural “circadian rhythms” or body clocks of teenagers are set to stay up later and wake up later than the rest of us. High schools should actually start their days later than elementary schools based on this research! You are wise to try to take some consider steps to avoid four years of aggravation. You might start by considering if he needs to get to bed earlier, or if he could be better organized, such as by setting out the clothes he will wear the next day and having his backpack by the door. Does he need to allow more time to get ready?
You may need to use some daily consequences to help motivate him to improve. For example, pending on his interests, he could earn one 99 cent music download for each day that he was ready on time and he might lose video game privileges for any day that he isn’t.
Once your son has established a routine you may be able to gradually phase out the consequences. On the other hand, you might need to continue them and change them from time to time to keep them meaningful. Many teenagers have to make this transition to an earlier start time in high school and almost all of them do so successfully!