NurtureShock: Ch 2 - The Lost Hour

Written By: Jana Burk
WAEYC Affiliate Council Representative to the Governing Board

“Because children’s brains are a work in progress until the age of 21, and because much of that work is done while a child is asleep, this lost hour appears to have an exponential impact on children that it simply doesn’t have on adults.”
(Excerpted from page 31 of NurtureShock)

I was surprised to learn, as I read the second chapter of NurtureShock, by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, that it is a fact that children today – from elementary school through high school – get an hour less sleep each night than they did thirty years ago. I was also surprised to learn that even kindergarteners get 30 minutes less sleep each night these days. However, I was truly alarmed to learn about the lasting impact that this loss of only one hour can have on children.

The reasons why children get one hour less of sleep each night vary and have much to do with family systems and the culture in which we now live. Many of us adults also get less sleep, but we muscle through it. If we can do it, so can our kids, right? Anyway, we can all catch up on the weekend … right?

But what was alarming for me to learn was, the cost of less sleep is much greater for children than it is for adults. And “catching up” on the weekend doesn’t solve the problem. With more sophisticated techniques of brain study available to us now, sleep scientists have been able to measure the impact of this “single lost hour.” It isn’t just a matter of falling asleep in first period or being a little tired during after-school music lessons. Not only do academic performance and emotional stability suffer but also things that seem unrelated, such as an increase in obesity, ADHD, and childhood depression.

Some scientists are concerned that sleep deprivation in children can lead to permanent changes in a child’s brain structure. As a parent and an early learning professional, these are the words that alarmed me the most.

I look forward to a lively discussion on Chapter 2, “The Lost Hour,” in NurtureShock, and I hope you will join us.

NurtureShock: Ch 1 - The Inverse Power of Praise

Written By: WAEYC Affiliate Council Secretary Amy Osterman

“Nurture shock…refers to the panic—common among new parents—
that the mythical fountain of knowledge is not magically kicking in…
This book will deliver a similar shock—it will use the fascinating new science of children to reveal just how many of our bedrock assumptions about kids can no longer be counted on.”
--(Excerpted from page 6 of Nurture Shock)

Six pages into NurtureShock reading the introduction subtitled “Why our instincts about children can be some off the mark” I encountered the above passage and felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Immediately I was drawn into thinking about how often my actions as a professional or a parent are driven by my gut level reactions of what feels like the right thing to do. What if my instincts were wrong? Did I really want to know this? Finding the ideas put forth in the book both intriguing and scary, I chose to forge ahead through the book to see what I might be able to glean.?

I encourage each of you to also put aside your initial concerns and dive into the book with an open mind so we may consider the ideas presented in the book and shed new light on our work with young children. Chapter titles like “The Inverse Power of Praise” and “Why Kids Lie” indicate the “trees” we will be viewing along the way, the specifics of issues, but I am more interested in the “forest” we will be traveling through, the overall impact and implications of the book. What does the research explored do to inform our practice and our interactions with the children in our work and home lives? What current thinking, practices, and research can we keep or modify? What do we need to discard in favor of more effective practices? This book offers many suggestions, but what do we as Early Learning Professionals see as relevant to our field? What questions does the book answer for us and, more importantly, what questions does it raise but leave unexplored?

I hope you will join us as we engage on the journey to delve into NurtureShock. It promises to be wild ride with lots of possibilities for rich discussion and myth busting.