Should Kids Sleep In On Weekends?

Studies show that children who have longer sleeping hours were less likely to grow overweight.

The claim that letting children sleep in at weekends is good for them is half right, and the half that’s wrong is the part that makes Monday morning miserable.

Catch-up sleep does partially repay a sleep debt. A child who’s chronically short of sleep is better off getting some back at the weekend than not.

But a large weekend shift moves the body clock. Waking at 11am on Sunday pushes the internal clock several hours later, and Monday’s 6.30am alarm then arrives in the middle of the child’s biological night. The effect is close to flying across time zones every week.

A workable compromise is an extra hour at weekends, not four. Keep wake-up within about an hour of the weekday time.

The real problem is the weekday

Weekend catch-up is a patch on a deficit that shouldn’t be there. What most children need is more sleep on school nights, and the usual obstacles are known:

Late bedtimes from homework, enrichment and activities
Screens in the hour before bed, and phones in bedrooms
Early school starts
Caffeine, including bubble tea and cola in older children

How much is needed


Age	Sleep in 24 hours
1–2 years	11–14 hours, including naps
3–5 years	10–13 hours
6–12 years	9–12 hours
13–18 years	8–10 hours

What sleep deprivation looks like in children

It doesn’t look like sleepiness. It looks like hyperactivity.

A tired adult slows down; a tired child speeds up, becomes wired, silly and impulsive, and can’t settle. This is the single most important thing to know here, because the behaviour is routinely read as naughtiness or as an attention problem when it’s a sleep problem.

Also: difficulty waking, irritability, poor concentration, emotional volatility, falling asleep in the car, and needing to be woken every morning.

Teenagers are a special case

At puberty the body clock shifts later. Melatonin is released later, so a teenager who can’t fall asleep at 10pm is usually not being difficult. It’s biological, and it collides with early school start times.

Don’t treat the late body clock as laziness. It’s real and it’s temporary.
Morning light helps shift it earlier: daylight soon after waking, and curtains open.
Phones out of the bedroom overnight. The most effective single intervention for teenage sleep, and the most resisted.
Allow a longer lie-in than for younger children, but still cap it: two hours, not five.
Naps, if any, before 4pm and under 30 minutes.

Fixing it

Move bedtime earlier gradually: 15 minutes every few nights, not an hour at once.
Fix the wake time first. A consistent wake-up anchors the clock more effectively than a consistent bedtime.
Daylight in the morning, screens off in the evening.
Same routine every night, ending in the bedroom.
Dark, cool, and no screens in the room.
Before term starts, shift back to school hours over a week, not overnight.

When to see a doctor

Snoring most nights, mouth breathing, or pauses in breathing: possible sleep apnoea, which affects behaviour and learning and is treatable
Persistent difficulty falling asleep despite a consistent routine
Daytime sleepiness despite adequate hours in bed
Waking screaming and unresponsive an hour or two after falling asleep, repeatedly
Restless legs or constant kicking, which can be linked to low iron

Frequently asked questions

Is it good for children to sleep in at weekends?

Partly. Catch-up sleep does repay some of a sleep debt, so it’s better than nothing. But a large shift moves the body clock several hours later and makes Monday morning much worse. The effect resembles weekly jet lag. An extra hour is the workable compromise, not four.

How much sleep do children need?

11 to 14 hours including naps at one to two years, 10 to 13 at three to five, 9 to 12 at six to twelve, and 8 to 10 for teenagers.

How can I tell if my child is short of sleep?

It usually looks like hyperactivity, not tiredness: wired, silly, impulsive and unable to settle. That’s the main thing to watch for, because it gets read as naughtiness or an attention problem. Also difficulty waking, irritability, poor concentration and falling asleep in the car.

Why can’t my teenager fall asleep early?

Because at puberty the body clock shifts later. Melatonin is released later, so a teenager awake at 11pm is usually not being difficult. Morning daylight helps shift it earlier, and getting phones out of the bedroom overnight is the single most effective intervention.

What’s the best way to fix a child’s sleep?

Fix the wake time first, since a consistent wake-up anchors the body clock better than a consistent bedtime. Then move bedtime earlier by 15 minutes every few nights, get daylight in the morning, and keep screens out of the bedroom.

When should sleep problems be seen by a doctor?

Snoring most nights, mouth breathing or pauses in breathing; persistent difficulty falling asleep despite a consistent routine; daytime sleepiness despite enough hours in bed; repeated episodes of waking screaming and unresponsive; or restless legs, which can indicate low iron.

What to remember

An extra hour at the weekend, not four. Bigger lie-ins move the body clock and wreck Monday.

The real fix is the school night. Anchor the wake time, move bedtime back gradually, get morning daylight, and take phones out of bedrooms.

And remember that in children, not enough sleep looks like hyperactivity, not like being tired.