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School closures led to more sleep and better quality of life for adolescents

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Re: School closures led to more sleep and better quality of life for adolescents

#61
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, maybe. In Europe, it's very unusual for a kid older than ~9 years to be driven to school.

I have to anecdotally disagree. I am living near to a big high school. Every morning parents, primarily mothers, drive their high school kids into school. One has to know that every 10 minutes the train stops at the school as it has their own stop. Busses also stop at school. Nonetheless the amount of kids in their teens being driven to school by parents is staggering.

I also lived next to a high school. Anecdotally I can say that the amount of kids being driven to school has risen. There is a huge traffic jam now every morning, people in the nearby buildings have adapted to either leave 30min before or after the traffic jam. It definitely wasn't as bad when I was a kid.

Re: School closures led to more sleep and better quality of life for adolescents

#62
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like quality of public transport problem. Also, high schoolers are fully competent not to miss busses.

Actually, most of them are not, but that's a learning opportunity! :-)

Here, public transport is super normal way to go to school, work, whatever. High schoolers generally do manage to catch those busses. Middle schooler do manage to catch those busses.

Once in a while someone comes in late. But, it is not that regular thing. Most of them in fact catch busses just fine.

Re: School closures led to more sleep and better quality of life for adolescents

#63
post #26
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in complete agreement, but 13 year olds cannot secure their own transportation. Most school districts I've lived in seem designed to ensure parents drive their kids to school. As an example, my current district won't offer a bus unless you live more than 3 miles away. 3 miles is a giant distant to walk every morning. Luckily, we live about a half mile away and she bikes to school. I wouldn't let her bike 3 miles,…

> but 13 year olds cannot secure their own transportation. Pretty much everyone here bikes to work at that age. Even if its 20km through wind and rain. On top of that, being dropped off by mommy and daddy does not impress your fellow students!

Over two hours of biking in rain every day sounds like quite a lot to be honest. And I definitely would not want my kid to drive 40km a day in snow or on icy road. Even if split into two 20km segments.

I had 10km from home to university. I would definitely not want to do double that amount everyday. Even as I was in shape at the time, doing it on bike everyday would be severely unappealing. It would probably also meant that biking has to be the only sport I do.

Re: School closures led to more sleep and better quality of life for adolescents

#64

This reminds me of the book "Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker. He writes about the centrality of sleep to the proper development of young minds. Early school starting times – particularly in the US, where almost half of public high schools start before 7.20am – are disastrous for the mental health of teenagers. There is serious evidence, Walker suggests, for viewing lack of sleep as a factor in the onset of depression…

Ok, but isnt that book full of scientific errors? Being it readable and convincing does not equal trustworthy.

Re: School closures led to more sleep and better quality of life for adolescents

#65
post #63
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but 13 year olds cannot secure their own transportation. Pretty much everyone here bikes to work at that age. Even if its 20km through wind and rain. On top of that, being dropped off by mommy and daddy does not impress your fellow students!

Over two hours of biking in rain every day sounds like quite a lot to be honest. And I definitely would not want my kid to drive 40km a day in snow or on icy road. Even if split into two 20km segments. I had 10km from home to university. I would definitely not want to do double that amount everyday. Even as I was in shape at the time, doing it on bike everyday would be severely unappealing. It would probably also mea…

Biking isn't a sport. That's the root of the normality of the above situation.

Re: School closures led to more sleep and better quality of life for adolescents

#66
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of high schoolers who do not live within walking distance of their school, or who aren't safe walking to their school. Buses are unreliable, easy to miss, and public transportation can be expensive. It's a whole thing.

As others have said, in Europe (at least in the cities where I grew up) transportation is not an issue. I went to several schools and kids being driven to school has always been an exception. They mostly walked or took public transport [0]. My sister went to high-school in a more rural area (read far-away suburb) and kids from the surrounding towns used to take the school bus. Yet, school still started very early, a…

Growing up in the countryside, basically no kid was driven to elementary school, except maybe some first graders early on. You either walk, come by bicycle or take a bus.

I wouldn't call 8:00 "very early". Elementary school started 7:25 for me, "Gymnasium" 7:20. Didn't really have a problem with it, same with my classmates. If you keep a decent sleeping schedule, don't play games on some device right before bed or laze about all day, it's a non-issue under normal circumstances.

Re: School closures led to more sleep and better quality of life for adolescents

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As others have said, in Europe (at least in the cities where I grew up) transportation is not an issue. I went to several schools and kids being driven to school has always been an exception. They mostly walked or took public transport [0]. My sister went to high-school in a more rural area (read far-away suburb) and kids from the surrounding towns used to take the school bus. Yet, school still started very early, a…

> As others have said, in Europe (at least in the cities where I grew up) transportation is not an issue. Having spent many hours on the Parisian metro, there’s no chance I’d let my children anywhere near it. Even supervised.

Anywhere you have enough density for a metro local schools are going to be within walking distance.

Re: School closures led to more sleep and better quality of life for adolescents

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As others have said, in Europe (at least in the cities where I grew up) transportation is not an issue. Having spent many hours on the Parisian metro, there’s no chance I’d let my children anywhere near it. Even supervised.

Anywhere you have enough density for a metro local schools are going to be within walking distance.

Ah yes. The Parisian streets. Much safer.

Re: School closures led to more sleep and better quality of life for adolescents

#69
post #42
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only a small percentage of students take part in any extracurricular, especially the time intensive ones. Better to let everyone sleep in and let various sports and clubs find ways to adapt their schedules

100% of children should do sports, music, etc, especially time intensive ones (especially at a young age) not a small percentage.

That sounds like hell. I was forced into music and soccer for ~6 years as a child, and my complete lack of talent is the only thing that stopped my parents from keeping me at it, they thought like you and didn't care that it was miserable and boring. We are not all the same, and we don't all need to be the same.

Re: School closures led to more sleep and better quality of life for adolescents

#70
post #65
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over two hours of biking in rain every day sounds like quite a lot to be honest. And I definitely would not want my kid to drive 40km a day in snow or on icy road. Even if split into two 20km segments. I had 10km from home to university. I would definitely not want to do double that amount everyday. Even as I was in shape at the time, doing it on bike everyday would be severely unappealing. It would probably also mea…

Biking isn't a sport. That's the root of the normality of the above situation.

Biking 40km a day does amount to sport. Walking is not sport either, but hiking 8 hours a day amount to one too.

If nothing else, both take huge amount of time. If you go those 40km slowly (or environment prevents it), you are looking at very long commute. If you go them fast, then you cant claim it is not a sport.

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