Tuesday, May 6, 2008

The Bedtime Creeps Later

This week has been an important one at school for Emily: PSSA testing. No, I have no idea what those initials stand for, but apparently it is one of these tests which BOTH tells the school and teachers how well they're doing and tells them how Lake Wobegon my eldest child is. As parents, we were instructed to feed our children good breakfasts and make sure they get good sleep all week.

Sunday night, the girls were in bed at 8:30, the light was out at 9:00 sharp. This is our goal time, and when I achieve this they generally wake up on their own for school without too much prodding. It was not dark out when they climbed in bed, and Emily noticed this and asked why she was going to bed so early...

Monday night I also tried to be good. They were probably in bed at 8:45, light out by 9:15. They woke up fine this morning, but it was definitely a creep into the direction of summer nights and out late.

Tonight, I mowed again - darn this nice grass growing weather! It was exhausting. I cooked a bit of chicken (from the fridge - still 22 in the cage!) and my husband sauteed the latest mushroom we grew in a kit under the sink (this kit was my birthday present; when I get the first portobello I'll post a photo). At 8:30, he notes that we should make the girls come in, as they were still out playing in our new hammock. Perhaps they were in bed by 9:00. Perhaps the light was out at 9:30.

Sometimes I think we have this regular bedtime for children thing all wrong. In winter, we should all sleep late and go to bed early - some sort of semi-hibernation. In late spring, when the days are long like this, we should wake up early and play outside all we can stand, and drag ourselves to bed only when the stars come out.

But in any case, tomorrow morning Emily will have PSSA testing. I hope the school, the teachers, and Emily all come out looking rosy. But I promised them that at the end of this week, we can stay outside late, and I have to say, I think they'll get more out of that experience than anything with a pencil and a bubble sheet.

2 comments:

marji said...

Max recently said he'd like to go to a school where lunch and recess are as long as math and language arts. This year's art teacher has even found a way to eek all the creativity out of that subject. Interesting how the extras used to be the givens. I'll be at another no child inside meeting Friday. I'll pass on any tips. In the meantime, thanks for your comments on my blog. I'm going to try to post more frequently as I love hearing from you and our lunch crew.

Ser said...

Luke and Henry have been going to bed later, too. For us that is asleep by 8 or so, but still.

Sometimes Luke stays home from school so we can just have fun and play outside, and when I call in for him, they always ask, "is he sick?" I usually just say yes, but I really should say, "He is suffering outdoor-time deficiency because he has no recess."