WEE Willie Winkie, the nursery rhyme character who runs through the town reminding children to go to bed would have to faint or get used to the Kingdom. Children here do not even think of bed at 8 p.m.! It’s no secret that the Saudi lifestyle is such that children go to bed later and later everyday. And it is a problem which many parents don’t realize is a problem.
Go to any public place — a mall, the beach, a park and no matter how late, you will find children playing, running, throwing tantrums but all wide awake. And this is all happening at a time when they should be snug in bed!
"It’s a challenge to keep children interested in daily class work," a teacher who works at a Saudi school told Arab News. "It becomes more difficult when half the children are sleepy and some even doze off. The problem is at its peak on Saturday. No matter how many times you complain to parents, they turn a deaf ear. They are not at all troubled by the fact that their children are inattentive, lethargic and tired — all of which can be easily avoided if parents sent their children to bed at a reasonable hour."
The nurse at the Bangladesh Embassy School in Jeddah sent letters to parents. She complained that many students were sleeping in class. She urged parents to send children to bed early, outlining the importance of eight hours of sleep for children.
Dr. Saida Ahmad, a doctor at the Al-Hussan Academy in Alkhobar said, "Eight hours is the minimum requirement of sleep for children. They should get around 10 hours. Brain cells need a certain amount of rest without which they don’t function properly. When a child does not get the required amount of sleep, he is unable to concentrate, gets edgy and throws tantrums. Children often have tummy aches and younger ones even throw up due to lack of sleep."
Dr. Saida Ahmad said that parents in the Kingdom were quite lax in teaching and promoting good, healthy sleeping patterns to their children. "Many are not even aware of its importance. I come across many children who suffer because they go to bed late and don’t get the right amount of sleep. I believe the right amount of sleep has a positive effect on a child’s personality and learning." She said at the school young children often come to her complaining of tummy aches. "I examine them thoroughly to make sure nothing is wrong. Sometimes I even send them to the bathroom. If the pain persists, I tell them to lie down. Believe me, they are usually fast asleep in minutes. They wake up an hour or two hours later, fully recovered, active and jumping!"
Why don’t parents send their children to bed early? Some parents complain that school work keeps children up late. "It is impossible to send children to bed early," said an Indian housewife. "The school gives so much homework and there are always tests so my children stay up every night studying. They are not able to go to bed before 11 p.m. In the morning, they have to be up by 6 to catch the bus on time."
Another thing which keeps children up is the socializing. "Life in the Kingdom is such that staying up late is considered normal. Even if we are not going anywhere, someone is visiting us," complained a Pakistani mother. "The other day we were invited to a dinner party after Isha prayer. Most guests came late so dinner was not served before 11. Then there was dessert and tea. You couldn’t leave before midnight even if you wanted to. People just don’t have any sense of time."
Some women said that because they depend on their husbands for everything and their husbands came home late, nobody in the house sleeps early. "My husband gets home at 8.30 every night. Then there is usually grocery shopping or some school supplies to be bought. The children are also bored and want to go out since there is nothing for them to do here, especially my daughters. They can’t play outside or go out like their brothers. So unless offices start working in single shifts, and men get home at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., there is no solution."
One mother said that she had to go with the flow. "I tried to live like I had done in the United States where I am from. We had visitors ringing our door bell at 11 p.m. When I told them, our children had to go to school the next day, they looked at me as if I were crazy. Some even accused me of trying to be too Westernized. One person gave me a lecture, saying it made no difference to the children. He boasted that he had stayed up late as a child and done well in school and in life. He scoffed at the idea of having strict bedtimes and said that it was no big deal if children slept late!"
Arab News spoke to some children and asked if they had to go to bed at a specific time. Almost every one of them said their parents told them to go to bed at 9 or 9.30. But it was a rule never really enforced as most of them usually went to bed several hours later. One girl said that her parents kept the children up by taking them shopping or visiting friends. One Saudi teenager said that she went to bed at 1 a.m. every day. "But when we have exams, we sleep at about 11 p.m."
Some amount of parental awareness about the importance of strict bedtime schedules is needed and until the parents themselves are disciplined and are ready to give up their late hours, there seems little hope for change. And children in the Kingdom will continue to sleep late and be drowsy the next day in school!