The Kids Aren't Asleep Yet ... And Here's Why I Feel Extra Guilty About It

So, Eddie's in the hallway conducting a commentary-filled race with his little NASCAR cars ("Jeff Gordon's in the pits." "Denny Hamlin is passing Jeff Gordon!") and Chas is playing with his Cars cars (regular McQueen, and the new addition to our family, "cactus" McQueen). But they should be sleeping.

I say this not only because I wouldn't mind a teeny bit of alone time, but also because of this news story I saw on MSNBC:

Lack of shut-eye leads to fatter kids, study says

updated 5:53 a.m. PT, Mon., Nov. 5, 2007

Here’s another reason to get the kids to bed early: More sleep may lower their risk of becoming obese.

Researchers have found that every additional hour per night a third-grader spends sleeping reduces the child’s chances of being obese in sixth grade by 40 percent.

The less sleep they got, the more likely the children were to be obese in sixth grade, no matter what the child’s weight was in third grade, said Dr. Julie Lumeng of the University of Michigan, who led the research.