Mom Faces Scrutiny By Waking Up Daughter Who ‘Overslept’ After Working Night Shift — ‘Don’t Sleep The Day Away’
Unless you've worked a night shift, you have no idea how it feels.
Ground Picture, Fizkes / Shutterstock.com Getting quality sleep is hard enough for people working a “typical” work schedule. Night shift workers have it ten times worse.
Despite all of that, Tanetta Hampton decided to record the moment she forced her daughter Zion out of bed at 3 p.m. claiming she was oversleeping and working nights wasn't an excuse.
Outrage ensured in the comments, with many arguing that Hampton had no idea what kind of toll a reverse sleep schedule could take on a person's health.
A mom woke her daughter at 3 p.m., claiming she 'overslept' despite working the night shift.
“Zion thinks because she works night shift, she has to oversleep,” the mom wrote over her now-viral video, with her daughter looking frustrated sitting up in bed. “Open up the blinds and wake up!”
As Zion blocked her face from the camera, Hampton urged her to “get some sun” and get out of bed — as if Vitamin D and daylight would cure her tiredness immediately.
Although the interaction seemed relatively typical of a mother and her teen daughter, many commenters criticized the mom for waking her.
“I used to work from 5 pm to 5 am and I feel [her] pain,” one wrote. “Nobody respected my sleep schedule. She might’ve gotten in bed at 7, but likely didn’t fall asleep until long after that.”
The mom argued that sleeping too much was detrimental to her daughter's health.
“How are you going to be a boss, when you’re out here sleeping most of the day?” Hampton said to her daughter. “That’s depressing … You’ve already got 8 hours of sleep. Now, you’re sleeping for no reason.”
DimaBerlin / Shutterstock.com
Commenters argued that despite her seemingly good intentions, Hampton should “try working a night shift” before she policed her daughter’s sleeping habits.
Even for teenagers who aren’t working overnight, it’s a common habit for parents to try to prevent their adolescent kids from sleeping late, but research indicates they aren't getting nearly enough sleep to begin with.
According to a 2009 neurological study, teenagers have an altered circadian rhythm from adults that forces them to stay up late and sleep in.
In addition, teenagers need more sleep than adults but rarely get the eight to 10 hours they need.
Critics insisted that night shift workers need more quality sleep than people with a 9-to-5 schedule.
“Let her sleep! It’s clear that she needs it,” one commenter wrote. “My mom used to do this to me and I moved out so fast.”
While this mother daughter relationship, captured briefly in the TikTok, seemed to be more than loving, research suggests her teenage daughter might actually need the sleep she’s desperately looking for.
With the negative effects of artificial light and the physical toll many night shift workers experience, most need a few extra hours of sleep than the average person — 9 to 12 hours compared to the normal eight hour snooze.
Don't forget that everyone — day workers or night shift — needs time to decompress after work. No one goes to bed as soon as they get home!
“Let her sleep while she can,” another commenter said. “It’s nearly impossible for her to get the sleep she needs to operate through another shift to begin with.”
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango who focuses on health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories.