Friday 29 January 2016

Sleeplessness

Sleeping pattern of children overseas
In developed countries the babies have sleeping patterns. From toddlers to kids they have fixed bed time. They know they have to be on the bed by that time. The time is somewhere between 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm. You won’t hear a kid after these timings because their bedtime starts. As a result, the parents get time to finish up the chores and take a good sleep themselves to get refueled for the next busy day. 

Sleeping routine is not disturbed
Both the parents normally work, so the whole family enjoys a proper routine which in fact is good for the health and over all family tie. They do enjoy parties on the weekends & on holidays but without disturbing the kids’ sleeping routine. This is beneficial for the brain & body development of the little ones. Babies and kids are not seen taking a nap in the evening, as their long pampering bed time approaches soon after the evening.

Sleeping pattern of children in PAKISTAN
Kids are active at night
On the contrary, the sleeping pattern of children here in Karachi is "amazing". Babies sleep pattern is not even discussable. Babies & toddlers are seen sleeping whole day & been active whole night! If not whole day but at least during large chunk of the day they sleep. 

How sleep routine is adjusted? 
Now let's see the sleep timings of school going kids. If tomorrow is school, so the kids will sleep early i.e. between 10:30pm & 11:30pm. This time is too early to sleep in Karachi. If its a holiday next day then everyone is in very very relaxed mood. The dinner is not at the dining table until its after 10:00 pm & that’s even early for many families. Then obviously the kids in the house can’t feel to sleep until its midnight. They go to the bed after 1:00 am or two three hours can be added to that time.


Preparing the kids for that party...
If there is a very important party here we call it dawat, dawat means a dinner with the whole family & may include extended family just for the sake of it & not generally requires a reason to throw that party. Then to prepare the kids for that party which will take place between 10:00 pm and 1:00 am, the kids are made to sleep in the afternoon for two, three, four hours. Then kids are fresher than ever at 7:00 pm which should be normal sleepy time for a kid.  Then the kids don't disturb adults while they are busy gossiping & showing off during the party. 


Eventually, sleep routine is such that it’s not a routine any more. It’s just an effort put to disturb the natural sleeping routine.


Sleeplessness is the starting point of illnesses
The same kids when they are in their teens or early twenties, they are seen totally awakened during the night, chatting, talking, partying, whatsapping, watching movies, hanging with their laptops & androids because they have forgotten what a sleep is! Then they are not attentive in their works, duties, and studies. When there is no sleep, the whole next day is lazy seemingly busy. This is because parents didn’t even try introducing a very important habit of sleep. This sleeplessness is the starting point of many problems & illnesses. 


Its an untold & undiscovered flaw in the parenting style that they try to adjust sleep of their children according to their own interests & business!



How to prevent a sleepless night?






If any family has a proper sleeping schedule, then it’s harder than said to adjust with nocturnal peers / buddies. The family want to be part of parties & dine outs but due to time adjustments, it seems like a mission to accomplish. And people go like, "Why you sleep early?" Huh!
Man! I do not sleep early. I am a parent. I have a thousand things done before I go to bed. It's for my kid's sleep pattern that I need to be home before their sleep time...........




Thoughts by,
Engr. Ayesha Alam Khurram

















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