How to Improve Your Child’s Sleep So They Can Succeed in School

Why Your Child’s Sleep Is the Hidden Key to Their Success at School

You’ve checked the backpack. You’ve made peace with the cereal on the floor. And every night, you remind your child—sometimes gently, sometimes not—that it’s bedtime. Still, the mornings are sluggish. Homework takes twice as long. And at school, the teacher mentions your child is having trouble concentrating again.

In many homes, sleep becomes a silent struggle—just one more thing in a pile of responsibilities. But it may be the missing piece when it comes to your child thriving at school. Sleep isn’t just rest; for children aged 6 to 12, it’s where memory, focus, and emotional regulation are built. If you’ve ever wondered whether improving sleep might help with homework battles or school stress, the answer is a resounding yes.

What Sleep Really Does for a Child’s Brain

Let’s start with what’s happening during those precious hours of rest. Your child might look still and peaceful, but their brain is anything but idle. During sleep, especially deep sleep and REM stages, the brain consolidates what it learned during the day. In fact, a growing body of cognitive research shows that children who consistently sleep well retain information more effectively, solve problems more creatively, and have better emotional regulation.

Unfortunately, many kids today aren’t getting the rest they need. According to sleep specialists, children between 6 and 12 years old need somewhere between 9 and 12 hours of sleep a night. Yet few consistently hit that target. The result? Trouble with memory, short attention spans, and frequent frustration. Sound familiar?

When Bedtime Is a Battle: What’s Really Going On

A lot of parents I talk to say this isn’t about knowing their kid needs more sleep—it’s about how to make that happen. For some children, falling asleep is hard because their minds are still buzzing. For others, bedtime becomes an emotionally charged negotiation: one more story, one more glass of water, a last-minute anxiety about the next day.

One parent recently told me about her 10-year-old daughter who began refusing bedtime altogether. After a bit of gentle digging, they discovered she was feeling overwhelmed by school and didn’t want the next day to come. She equated sleep with the pressure to perform. It was only when her parents helped her externalize those thoughts—and adjusted the evening routine to something gentler—that real improvement happened.

Creating the Conditions for Restful Sleep

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but here are some patterns that seem to help, especially for children dealing with school-related stress or learning difficulties:

• Give the brain time to wind down. Shut off screens 60 to 90 minutes before bed. Not only does blue light interfere with the body’s natural melatonin production, but stimulating content can delay winding down. Replace screens with something like reading or calm audio sessions.
• Make bedtime feel safe and supportive. If your child is anxious about school, resist trying to talk it through right before sleep. Instead, create a softness around bedtime by playing soothing music or telling a calming (not school-related) story. Some families have even gotten creative by using tools that turn school lessons into bedtime-friendly adventures, where the learning comes passively. For example, the Skuli App allows you to transform a child’s written lesson into an audio story where they are the hero—using their first name—which can ease anxiety while subtly reinforcing learning.
• Keep wake and sleep times consistent—even on weekends. A consistent circadian rhythm helps children fall asleep faster. Wild swings between weekday and weekend sleep schedules may seem harmless, but they can throw off sleep quality for days.
• Think of the night routine as a transition, not a switch. Build 30–45 minutes into the bedtime routine to slowly dial things down. That might include a bath, a little talking time, teeth brushing, and a predictable story-journal-light-off sequence.

Sleep and Learning: A Two-Way Relationship

Sometimes, we forget that sleep doesn’t only affect learning—learning can also affect sleep. If your child is struggling with multiplication or gets anxious before Thursday’s spelling test, they may not sleep well because that stress lingers in their body.

When a child feels confident about what they’re learning, the brain can worry less at night. One approach that’s worked in our home: making review less of a chore. Instead of re-reading lessons at night, try turning them into bite-sized audio quizzes or listening sessions—ideally earlier in the evening, perhaps during dinner or the drive home from school. These small habits help reinforce knowledge without stress, leaving kids feeling calmer by bedtime.

Clues Your Child’s Sleep May Be Affecting School

If you’re not sure whether your child’s academic struggles are connected to sleep, you might recognize some of these signs:

• They say they’re “too tired” to do homework, even after a seemingly full night’s rest
• They get weepy, frustrated, or overwhelmed with learning tasks more easily
• A teacher mentions lapses in focus, slower reading, or trouble with memory
• There’s a noticeable mood shift—irritability, sensitivity, or zoning out—especially in the early afternoon

These cues are often overlooked, but as we explore in this article on sleep and focus at school, they're some of the earliest indicators that something deeper might be going on. You might also find it helpful to explore how lack of sleep directly impacts school performance.

You Don’t Need Perfection—Just Progress

If your child currently goes to bed late and takes ages to fall asleep, you don’t need to make radical changes overnight. Start small. Add ten minutes of calm before lights out. Choose one lesson a week to turn into a whimsical audio adventure. Build in moments where learning doesn’t feel like pressure—and where sleep no longer feels like an interruption, but a comfort.

These small changes don’t just benefit academic success—they also build independence, which is key between the ages of 6 and 12. As we explain in this deeper dive on building independence, good sleep routines become cornerstones of self-regulation.

You’re already doing more than you think, and your awareness is a huge first step. With consistency, care, and a little creativity, your child’s sleep can become not just better—but a quiet superpower for learning and confidence.