Click Here William Shakespeare must have known the value of a good night's sleep when he wrote that it "knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care" and was the "Chief nourisher in life's feast". As a parent, you can no doubt write your own poem. An ode to "thine tired child's crabbiness and orneriness" perhaps. But the reasons for a good night's sleep go well beyond mood. "If children are not sleeping well the consequences may be problems with behavior, attention, learning, and memory," says Dr. Shelly Weiss, author of Better Sleep for Your Baby & Child: A Parent's Step-by-Step Guide to Healthy Sleep Habits and Pediatric Program Director at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Less sleep, especially before the age of 41 months, has also recently been found to increase hyperactivity-impulsivity and to lower cognitive performance on neurodevelopmental tests. Sleep may affect more than just your child'
