It seems that children are forever picking up on parents’ bad habits. If mom and dad wouldn’t recognize broccoli if a man in a giant broccoli suit rang the front doorbell, it’s likely the children are not going to be eating cruciferous veggies like they’re going out of style. We are know that stressful behaviors of the parents are picked up on by the children. I’m sure that the behavior in this study is reflective of parental influence as well.
In this particular study, researchers looked at high school students who were sleep deprived during the week and tried to catch up on sleep on the weekends. Good thing these behaviors are limited to the kids and not the overworked parents…
Researchers found that, in those with the “catch up sleep” pattern, attention related tasks were negatively affected, despite the appearant “catch up” of lost sleep on the weekends.
The bottom line is that sleep is important for all of us, but especially on our kids’ mental performance. Remember that these behaviors are just as likely picked up from the parents as they are from their peers.