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Sleep

Nights that settle

Bedtime resistance, night waking and the wind-down routines that hold when everyone is tired.

The FeatureSleep

An unmade bed beside an open window in early morning light

Nobody in This House Is Sleeping Well

One child's broken sleep rarely stays contained to one bedroom. Here is how family-level sleep debt builds, why it makes everything else harder, and where to start untangling it.

Reviewed by Sian TrombleyCanadian Certified Counsellor

The archive

More in Sleep

Bare feet on a floor in near darkness

Sleep

The Child Who Walks at Night

Sleepwalking, night terrors and the strange hour between deep sleep and morning.

A parent and child walking a dog on a foggy winter beach

Mental Health

The Dark at Four O'Clock: Seasonal Low Mood in Children

Every autumn, families arrive describing a child who has changed — flatter, heavier, harder to move. The clocks went back six weeks…

A child peeking out from under a white duvet pulled over their head

Sleep

The Child Who Cannot Fall Asleep Without You

Every evening ends the same way: on the floor beside their bed, waiting for their breathing to change.

A teenager studying late at night under a desk lamp with energy drink cans beside the laptop

Sleep

Energy Drinks and the Teenage Night

Caffeine has quietly become the scaffolding of adolescent life. Here is how energy drinks, iced coffees and pre-workout powders interact with an…

A 14-year-old opening bedroom curtains in soft morning light while a school bag rests beside the door

Sleep

Resetting Sleep Before School Starts

A calm, circadian-science-based plan for moving late summer nights and slow mornings earlier, while protecting connection and avoiding bedtime becoming a nightly…

A rumpled white duvet on an empty bed in the dark

Sleep

Nightmares and Night Terrors

A child screaming at night may be awake, dreaming or caught between sleep stages. Knowing which one you are seeing helps you…

An editorial photograph of an eight-year-old child reading comfortably on a neatly made bed while a parent places fresh pyjamas in a bedside drawer

Child Development

Bedwetting

Bedwetting is usually a developmental sleep-and-bladder issue, not misbehaviour. Here is how to respond without shame, choose treatments that work, and make…

A nine-year-old boy sitting up in bed with a small torch, looking calmly toward a softly lit hallway, warm nightlight glow in a tidy bedroom

Anxiety

Afraid of the Dark at Nine

Why night fears in older children are different from toddler fears, and what actually helps.

A child hanging upside down on a playground swing

Behaviour

The Child With No Off Switch

Some children do not wind down at the end of the day. They wind up — and by eight o'clock everyone is…

Two teenagers lounging on a bed in a cluttered bedroom

Sleep

The Teenager Who Sleeps All Weekend

Twelve hours on a Saturday is often biology catching up — but sometimes it is something else.

A small teddy bear sitting alone at the end of a wooden boat on still water

Anxiety

Homesick at the Sleepover

The half-past-ten phone call, and what you decide in the next sixty seconds.

Young people gathered around a campfire in the woods at night

Resilience

The First Night Away

Homesickness is not weakness. It is attachment doing its job in the wrong postcode — and it is highly trainable.

A child's hands cupped around a small string of warm lights in the dark

Sleep

The Light Left On: Night-Time Fears in Children

Night-time fear is not a stalling tactic. It is a young brain doing exactly what it was built to do at the…

A child in pyjamas standing in a bedroom doorway at night holding a blanket

Sleep

Why Sleep Battles Are Usually Emotional, Not Behavioural

When a child fights bedtime, we often look for a new rule. But the real resistance is often the feelings they have…

Two children lying on a bed in a dark room, their faces lit only by the glow of a phone screen

Technology

Screens at Bedtime: The Real Cost

It is not just that screens keep kids awake. It is that they change the texture of the evening, delay the nervous…

A teenager asleep in a rumpled bed in the early morning, eye mask on, curtains still drawn

Sleep & Routines

Ten Past Midnight: How Much Sleep a Teenager Actually Needs

Your teenager is not staying up late to defy you. Their body clock has genuinely moved — and almost everything else you…

A tablet glowing blue in a darkened bedroom, held by a child's hands late at night

Digital World

The Phone in the Bedroom: The One Boundary Worth Holding

Of all the decisions families make about technology, where the device sleeps has the largest and most measurable effect on a child's…

A child leaning over an open exercise book, distracted by a phone in their hand

Digital Families

Screen Time Rules by Age: What Actually Works at 5, 10 and 15

The hours matter far less than what is displaced. A workable family plan protects sleep, movement and conversation — and then stops…

Hands scrolling through a social media feed on a phone

Digital World

What Hours of Scrolling Actually Does to a Child's Brain

Not melting it, not rewiring it beyond recognition. Something quieter and more consequential: shifting what their attention expects, and how much stillness…

A child's bedroom at night with a soft toy, an open book and a lamp still glowing

Sleep

Why Anxious Children Sleep Differently

Bedtime is the first moment all day with no distraction, no noise and nothing to do but think. For an anxious child,…

A child's bedroom prepared for sleep at dusk with a small warm lamp and books

Sleep

The Science of Sleep: Why Bedtime Falls Apart and How to Rebuild It

Almost every difficulty a family brings to therapy is worse on four hours' sleep. Bedtime is not a discipline issue — it…

Two teenagers sitting on a sofa filming themselves on a phone set up on a ring light

Digital World

Growing Up Online: Raising Children in a Digital World

The question is not how many hours. It is what the hours are doing — and whether your child has anywhere to…

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