What can I do with a teenage boy who sleeps past midday every day.

[Ben-RO]

@Murgatroyd and @readthemanual i'm definitely a fellow Night Owl! Having studied a fair bit of genetics once upon a time, I'd like to get a bit nerdy and say there's definitely a genetic component to sleeping patterns.

I think it's great that you're working this out in conversation with your teenager.

I also think it's okay to have initially jumped to "judgement and solution". I think it's pretty natural for us to want the best for the people we care about and for that to cause us to occasionally leap before we look. There's some considerable conscious effort required to take a step back and explore a little more carefully. The more you care about the person, and the bigger the issue is, the harder it is to take that step back.

At the risk of derailing the conversation i'd be keen to here some thoughts on that point

[StHubbins]

Hi @Murgatroyd.  I'm definitely a nightowl as well.  

i think the main thing is knowing how much sleep he is getting, rather than the hours in which he gets that sleep. If he's getting somewhere between 7 & 10 hours a night, I would think that's fairly normal for a teenager.  If he's sleeping more than that, it's worth starting to look at possible other symptoms of depression - lack of motivation, feelings of helplessness, appetite or weight change, loss of interest in things.

I suspect though that he is just staying up really late becuase he can!  But do try to rule out depression.