Healthy children need sleep. Effective parenting includes
helping children get sufficient quality sleep.
Sleep certainly involves physiological processes, but the
quality of the parent-child relationship is important to help children fall
asleep and experiencing a restful night, according to Annie Bernier and her
colleagues.
Should parents be present when bedtime begins? The available
research suggests that for children older than 3-months, the presence of
parents at bedtime and during the night can interfere with sleep.
What about bedtime routines? Consistent bedtime routines
generally lead to better quality sleep.
What about parents in conflict? According to the authors, the
research supports a connection between a parent’s psychological difficulties
and their children’s sleep difficulties. Most of the studies have focused on
links between parent depression and anxiety and children’s sleep. Other studies
have found links between marital conflict and a child’s impaired sleep. Some
obvious problems can be the noise itself that occurs with late night parental quarrels.
Ad. Effective parenting includes Discipline with Respect - Available on AMAZON and elsewhere.
The point of this post is to raise awareness of the
importance of sleep to a child’s well-being and the fact that family environments
can promote or interfere with a good night’s sleep.
Parents looking for solutions should of course see their
physician but they may also benefit from consulting a psychologist or counselor
when personal and family conflict factors may be the source of sleep
difficulties.
Disclosure: This post is meant to be educational and is
not presented as personal advice. I am not advertising clinical services for
myself or anyone else. I earn a small royalty if a reader buys one of my
books.
Reference
Bernier, A.,
Bélanger, M.-È., & Tétreault, É. (2019). The hand that rocks the cradle:
The family and parenting context of children’s sleep. In B. H. Fiese, M.
Celano, K. Deater-Deckard, E. N. Jouriles, & M. A. Whisman (Eds.), APA handbook of contemporary family
psychology: Applications and broad impact of family psychology., Vol. 2.
(pp. 137–151). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0000100-009
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