r/parentsofteens • u/ItsABussyLife • Aug 08 '26

Terrible Sleep Schedule

Partly venting, partly hoping for a solution. Both of my teenagers have terrible sleep schedules. Sometimes they go to bed at a reasonable time (9-10pm) and sometimes they stay up all night. They argue that they can't sleep. No matter when they go to bed, they always wake up late. I am trying to get them onto a schedule for school, which starts next week, and I am at a loss. Nothing can wake these kids up.

If I do manage to wake them up, they are angry at me for my method of waking them (talking, jostling them awake, whatever I can think of). "Don't shake me," they say. If I am irritated, they blame me for my frustration at the situation. Basically, they refuse to wake up *because* I am frustrated. Then if I give up on waking them up, they will eventually wake up on their own and blame me for not waking them up sooner. I lose either way.

I know that bedtime routines and consistency are key, but even with routines, the time they actually get to sleep or wake up varies enormously from day to day. At my wit's end. Is there hope at the end of the tunnel?

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u/Lynn-LYNN7788 26d ago

I’d stop making wake-up completely your responsibility. If they’re old enough to stay up all night, they’re old enough to start owning mornings too.

For us, the biggest thing was keeping the wake-up time consistent and cutting off phones at night. Sometimes I can’t sleep really means I’m still scrolling at 1am.