Wilson Elementary School in Wisconsin has created quite a stir by posting a guide to kid’s sleep on Facebook.  The guide recommends bedtimes for kids based on their ages and some parents are saying the guide isn’t practical.

As reported on Yahoo.com, the Facebook post with the guide, posted prior to starting school, has tallied over 385,000 shares and more than 8,400 comments.

Recommending that a 12-year-old who needs to arise at 6 AM should be in bed by 8:15 the night before is being called unrealistic by many parents.  The guide also recommends a 5-year-old, with a getting up time of 7 AM should be in bed by 7:30.

It has particularly riled working parents, many of whom don’t get home until after 6 PM, and then have to prepare dinner, check homework and bathe the children.

Others say the schedule doesn’t factor in extra-curricular activities.  Some say activities like cheerleading practice and soccer games don’t allow for kids to be home before 7 to 8 PM and getting everything else completed by 9 PM is difficult at best.

Still, others say the schedule is in line with what their particular family is doing now.  Some parents say their kids participate in after-school activities and still have time to get a good night’s sleep.

Kids 5-to 12-years-old need 10 to 12 hours of sleep each night, according to Nanci Yuan, MD, medical director of the Sleep Center at Stanford Children’s Health.  But, she added, there are individual variations and that some children can function better that others on less sleep.

Yuan also says the problem with the chart is the wake and sleep times.  She commented that multiple studies have shown later school times follow kid’s circadian rhythm and biological clock.

The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention completed a survey in 2015 of 40,000 middle, high and combined public schools in the U.S, and found the average start time was 8:03 AM.  Only 20 percent began at 8:30.

Yuan added that consistency is the key.  She said “The most important concept is that of a regular bedtime schedule with a set wake-up and sleep times, which do not vary by more than an hour, even on weekends.”