The trend of parents going out at night with their children is rapidly catching on. It doesn’t need a genius to figure out how risky and dangerous this is for the children. Lately, parents go out at night with their children to restaurants which also operate as bars. But if only parents could take their children to such places before 6pm. I recently saw an eight-year-old girl in the washrooms of one of these places around 10pm. In one of the toilets, a young woman was throwing up with the door wide open because she had had too much to drink. The child stood there looking at her, frightened! If as an adult, the scene freaked me out, how about the child? Talking to Women Today, Aisha Mohammed Nakiwa, a mother to a six-year–old girl, advised parents to always get babysitters if they are going for a night out. “I don’t see why a parent should stay out with a child till late. First and foremost, it’s risky given the uncertainties in places like bars. Children grasp everything around them very quickly – when people get drunk, they act weird and use inappropriate language,” Nakiwa said. She further said when parents go out with their children till late, when they become teenagers, they will not respect curfew. “These children learn so fast and whatever they see greatly impacts their lives in the future. Today they are staying out late with you, when they become teenagers, you will tell them not to be home later than 6pm and they will ask you what’s wrong with staying out late since they frequently stayed out when they were young,” Nakiwa stated. The 32-year-old Nakiwa said that staying out late with a child affects the child’s sleeping pattern. According to an article on the website of University of Michigan Health System titled ‘Sleep problems’, children still need somewhere between nine and 12 hours of sleep at night. At this age, kids usually start a trend toward becoming more and more sleep deprived. As the parents, you will need to help figure out how much sleep your child needs. The article further shows that if you’re older child resists going to sleep at night, remember this: It is your responsibility to put your child to bed, but it is your child’s responsibility to go to sleep. Therefore before you start keeping your children out late at night, think of the harm those late night parties will bring to your children especially regarding their sleeping pattern.
