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Sleeping is important, but do students have the right to choose when they do so? Or should they let their parents decide the bedtime? Students above the age 12 need over 8 hours of sleep. It's important or you'll be drowsy, moody, upset angry etc. You will also be refreshed every morning, and have the ability to stay up longer without a proper amount.

If a student above that age has the right to choose their own bed time, they can choose when they feel is right when to go to bed or wake up. They may not get this right at first, but students need their own arrangement to take breaks, do school work, and other. Though an arranged bedtime by your parents may be difficult to follow, maybe by 9 p.m. This may not give you enough time to complete the tasks you've been thinking about doing.

The bedtime we can make ourselves may be 10, 11, or a bad time, 12. We'll learn from these mistakes and should be able to choose when we should sleep and wake up. Parents and or guardians shouldn't have to make a time or watch over us when. What do you think?

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    "What do you think?" is a very open ended, opinion based question. Those kinds of questions typically get closed here because we aren't a traditional discussion forum. You may want to reword your question to avoid having it closed.
    – Becuzz
    Commented Mar 2, 2016 at 16:35
  • I never had a bed time per say. More like my parents had to get up at 4 am so they trusted us to go to sleep at a sane hour and be quiet after about 9:30 or so. No matter when we got to sleep we were never ready to wake up before the sun to go to school which began at something insane like 7:00. We never got enough sleep even when we chose to sleep early. That was more than 20 years ago. Know what's changed since then? Nothing. Except now I get up to take care of kids and work. My vote is for house quiet time after 10, go to sleep when you want. You know how you'll feel in the morning.
    – Kai Qing
    Commented Mar 3, 2016 at 0:11

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Yes. A set bed time is appropriate for teens. There is a reason for set bed times besides just the obvious reason that you want to ensure your child is getting enough sleep. Parents need a break too. I remember as a teen myself that the older I got the more I hated "bedtime". However, now that I myself have children (who are now teen agers) I realized that bedtime is not just for children. Parents need this time to defuse, relax and prepare themselves for the end of the day as well. In addition, sometimes parents don't want to set up all night waiting for their child to go to bed. They're tired too.

I do believe that it is acceptable for the bedtime schedule to change as a child matures. My daughter is 16 and her current bedtime during the week is 10pm. This only changes on weekend and summer vacation or if there is a special event going on.

Besides, lets be honest, just because you get sent to bed at a set time doesn't mean that's actually when you fall asleep is it. The simple fact is that most adults aren't even able to regulate their own bed times but, they are adults and know the consequences. An adult knows that if they stay up late and are tired the next day that doesn't mean they get to be rude/edgy or moody at work. From my experience, teens do not regulate this behavior well when tired. They tend to use it as an excuse and it then becomes everyone's problem.

As a teen you are still technically a child and living under your parent/guardians roof. I would expect that it is up to that parent/guardian to dictate what is best for the household they provide and support. This is just my opinion based off of my own personal experience with children and adults. We all need quality sleep to function at our optimal levels of performance.

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    I can't believe I actually laughed out loud. Yeah no kidding, parents DO need this time to subdue the horrors of the day. I can imagine it's harder to make transparent when they get older. Mine go to sleep at 8:30 now and the time between then and midnight is solid gold to me. Being a parent is like being on house arrest. Appreciate every second of peace you can get.
    – Kai Qing
    Commented Mar 3, 2016 at 0:13
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    I have teen and a "tween". Unless there is something happening the next day (school, trip, etc.) I usually let them stay up until midnight or beyond. It's not uncommon for both of us (my wife and I) to go to sleep before them. Sometimes I'll set an alarm to make sure they go to bed at the time I said. Even still, I do arbitrarily just make them go to bed "on time" when I feel it's necessary. It's probably not good that it's arbitrary, but they don't put up much of a fight when I do.
    – David Baucum
    Commented Mar 3, 2016 at 22:56
  • We have a set time but aren't hard core on it. We let her know about 10 minutes till that it's time to start finishing things up and heading for bed. We keep it pretty laid back. I know that what she does is go to her room then spend another 30 minutes or so messing around. But the idea is that she is settled in for the evening and we can relax. I can settle down knowing the kitchen is done being invaded and I get the remote control lol!
    – Dejah Roman
    Commented Mar 4, 2016 at 13:46
  • Teens often have evening jobs that have to be accommodated. As they get older you have to get less hard core or you'll wear yourself out. At 18, they're legally adult and you can't do anything about it anyways.
    – pojo-guy
    Commented Feb 16, 2018 at 3:33

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