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Welcome back to We are the Hansens.
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If you're new here, we're a big family with lots
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of love and a lot of chaos and a lot
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of stories to share. Today we're diving into something that
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affects every single.
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One of us. Sleep.
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As parents, we know firsthand how crucial it is to
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get enough rest, but in a house full of kids,
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it's often easier said than done. So let's talk about
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why sleep matters, how we prioritize it in our home,
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and what happens when we don't get enough of it.
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I'm going to start by saying with the kids. Every
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parent knows when toddlers miss an app it's game over.
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But beyond avoiding meltdowns, sleep is essential for their development.
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I can say this as a parent. For my children,
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if they didn't get a nap when they were little,
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it was pure craziness, pure chaos.
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We had meltdowns, we had.
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Fits, temper tantrums, whatever you guys call it, it always happened.
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And I have a seven and an eight year old.
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Sometimes I wish that I could give them a nap,
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and if they didn't attend school, they would definitely be
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getting one, Because sometimes I don't think they get enough sleep,
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and it's very whiny, very chaos because they fight. And yes,
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I know they're close in age, they are going to fight.
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It's a dead giveaway. But it let's just say this,
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It helps their brains grow, supports their immune system, and
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even impacts their behavior. That is the truth, one hundred percent.
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And it's not just the little ones. Even our teenagers
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need way more sleep than they think. Studies say kids
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between the age six and twelve need nine to twelve
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hours of sleep, and teens should get eight to ten hours.
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I'm gonna tell you my teenagers, they definitely don't get that.
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They think that because they're young, they can up late
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and they can still function. I'm telling you they cannot
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function very well.
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I see it in their schooling.
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I'm always on them about you guys got to get
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more sleep. You guys can't just run on fumes every
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day because you think that just a little bit of
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sleep helps.
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It doesn't you know, social lives.
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That's not always going to happen because they're so tired.
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They go to school, they come home and they're drained.
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They are so wiped out that all they want to
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do is just lounge around you know, it starts affecting schooling,
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social life, being able to do things. So that's exactly
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why I'm always hounding them. And with the little ones,
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they are just dragging around, moping around after school, moping
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around before school.
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It's like, come on, guys.
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I try to do my best to make sure my
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kids get enough sleep. And sometimes they say even if
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they go to bed early, they might wake up up
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throughout the night constantly, and that is true to a point.
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I notice that when it is dry in our house,
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I wake up a lot during the middle of the night.
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I'm either coughing, I need to get a sip of water.
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And I know that's what my kids go through. We
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always have a humidifier running just to keep it that way,
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and we try to keep our house a little cooler.
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I freeze all the time. My husband gives me a
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lot of grief because he's always saying, you're always cold.
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And I am. I am always cold.
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Even in the summertime when my house has got the
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air on, guess where I am. I'm outside on the
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back porch or outside doing something because it's warmer outside
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than in my house. And I hate being cold. When
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our kids don't get enough sleep. We all feel it.
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They're more irritable, they struggle to focus, and they're more
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likely to get sick.
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It's like a chain reaction. I see it a lot.
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My kids think I'm crazy, My kids think my husband's
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crazy because of it. Now, let's talk about how we
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handle bedtime in our house.
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You know, with a house full of kids, it's not
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easy as just go to bed.
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They don't magically fall asleep. We try and get our
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kids up early and get them waking up, get them
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some food. Our kids not always like to eat breakfast
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in the morning because they're just not ready to eat,
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or they're just not hungry. As a kid growing up,
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I knew, you know, every morning I wasn't eating breakfast.
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I just could not do it.
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And I've noticed that in a couple of my kids
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that they just can't eat breakfast in the morning, so
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they'll drink of water or juice or something and just
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kind of hang out and watch cartoons, whatever.
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It may be.
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So we've had to figure out routines that actually work
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for us. For the younger ones, we stick to I'm
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kind of a set schedule where you know, we eat
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dinner and then it's usually bad time. Sometimes we'll do
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homework if they have homework, and then we eat dinner
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and then bad time. Sometimes we'll forget and I'll be like, oh,
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we forgot homework. So sometimes it's bad time then bedtime.
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So it just depends how busy we are and how
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things go throughout the night. But most of the time
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we try to get our kids in bed.
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And I've caught them getting on their tablets.
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I've had to take tablets away because screen time before
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bed just does not help. It actually winds them up more,
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I think. And I think it's they say, if you
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have your phone on and you're looking at your phone
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or a tablet, the blue light in the phone causes
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you to stay up and so you have to have
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an hour prior to falling asleep no screen time.
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And I believe that. And for our older kids, we try.
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To get them some independence, but we also have expectations.
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Like I said, no phone's in the bed, and they
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need to wind down before sleeping. They need to just
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mellow out, relax, watch a little TV if anything. Most
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of the time, my younger kids, you know, and my teenager,
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they'll just shut the TV off and have it completely
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dark in the room, nothing on, just silence, and that
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helps a lot too. I've noticed that another thing we
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try to do for the older ones is maybe put
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on a little bit of music in the background, because
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people say that you got to have some type of
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background noise. My daughter Morgan, she sleeps with like sounds
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of the water crashing in the ocean, up against the rocks,
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or just outside sounds.
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It helps. And I'm that person too.
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I have to have some type of background noise, even
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if it's the fan going, which I don't like the
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fan going because I freeze myself, so that doesn't always work.
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So honestly, we notice that when we're consistent with bedtime routines,
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mornings are so much easier. No one wants to start
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a day off right away fighting over getting out of bed.
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I don't like fighting getting out of bed. It is terrible.
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So now I want to jump into what happens when
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parents don't get enough sleep. So we've talked about the kids,
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but what about us, Because let's be honest, parents are
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notorious for putting sleep on the back burner. I am
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one person that I can look at and say I'll
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put sleep on the back burner. I have a hard
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time sleeping at night. We feel it the next day.
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When we don't get enough sleep. We're more impatient, less productive,
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and let's be real, we don't function well on no sleep.
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I can tell the difference in my mood and how
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I handle the kids and when I had a good
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night's sleep versus when I've been up half the night.
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And sleep isn't just about energy, it's about health as well.
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I know when we lack sleep, it increases stress, it
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weakens our immune system, and it makes everything harder. Plus
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we have to set an example for our kids. If
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they only see us prioritizing rest, they're more likely to do.
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The same thing.
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So how do we make sure everyone, kids and parents
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get the rest they need. Well, I'm going to tell
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you a consistent routine. We aim for the same bedtime
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and wake up time even on weekends, which that's hard.
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We always give our kids a little leeway on the
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weekends because it's a weekend. It keeps everyone's body clock
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on track. We limit screen time before bed. The blue
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lie from the screens messes with melatonin production, so we
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cut off electronics at least thirty minutes before bedtime. We
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create relaxing atmospheres. Dim lights, quiet activities, and comfy bedding
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make a big difference.
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Model good habits.
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If we make sleep a priority, our kids are more
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likely to see its value too. And I try and
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explain that to all my kids, like this is helping
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your brain. When you get enough sleep, it makes you
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function better, it helps you learn better. There's a lot
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to getting a good night's sleep. We know when to
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be flexible. Some nights things don't go as planned, you know,
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Sometimes we get home late and we don't get dinner
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done early. Sometimes it's a late night. We try to
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just but we don't let bad habits take over us.
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It's hard as parents not to let bad habits take over.
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For instance, when we have a football game to go
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to or a cheer event to go to, we don't
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get home until late. So what it looks like when
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we come home is mad chaos. I'm hurrying trying to
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figure out something quick to make because either we didn't
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put dinner in the crock pot early because we weren't thinking,
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and things just got too busy with work and stuff,
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so we just forgot all about it, and we're just
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trying to scramble to find something to.
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Fill our bellies.
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Before bed because it is so late and we're just
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trying to look for something quick. Sometimes it's a free
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for all, what do you want for dinner? What do
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you want for dinner? And the kids will pick like
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pizza rolls or pizza or Ramen noodles, even though I
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don't think Ramen noodles are great for people, but that's
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something quick that they can fill their belly and be
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satisfied and be ready to get in the bath and
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get to bed. And we've had to do that. A
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family with a lot of kids does not have it easy.
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And I can tell you we are not perfect. Nobody
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is perfect. So we do break these rules and it's
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very easy to do with all the kids having different
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things to go to and different events, and.
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It does get broke.
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And that's why when we're running throughout the week, it's
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good to let the kids just be them selves on
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the weekend and just enjoy friends or you know, late
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light movie with the family.
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I mean, it happens.
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So it's definitely not easy, but we make it work.
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I see my kids struggle when they're a plate.
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Everyone will go to bed and I'll.
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Hear one of my kids get up go to the bathroom,
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and then the other one. It's almost like a domino effect.
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When one kid has to go, then they all have
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to go. I see that.
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But at the end of the day, sleep isn't just.
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About feeling rested. It's about our health, our mood, and
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how we function as a family. When we get enough rest,
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all of us, we're happier, healthier, and handle life's craziness
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a lot better. So if we're tired as parents, we
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get crabby. If our kids are tired as kids, they're crabby.
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It doesn't mesh well, especially when neither one of us
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get enough sleep. There's always an argument. I want to
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thank everybody for hanging out with us today. If you
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have any sleep tips that work for your family, we'd
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love to hear them. You can send us a message
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on our Facebook at we are the Hansens, or you
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can send us an email at we Arethehansen's Show at
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gmail dot com, and please go over to our YouTube
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channel we are the Hansens and subscribe. I appreciate every
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single one of you, and if there is something and
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you want me to know, please reach out. Y'all have
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a wonderful night,