My children,
Last night, very late, I walked past your rooms. The house was already asleep, or so I believed. Through one of the doors leaked a blue glow, that cold reflection I now recognize among a thousand. I did not knock. I lingered a moment in the hallway, listening to a silence that was not quite silence. And I told myself that I must tell you about the night.
Not to scold you. Not to reproach you for a distraction I know all too well myself. But to give you something you risk losing without even noticing that it is being taken from you: the possibility to pause.
The essential
In the Qur’an, the night is described as a garment and a time of rest. This image opens a father’s reflection, not a judgment against his children.
For ages 13–18, the usual scientific recommendation is 8 to 10 hours of sleep per night; for ages 6–12, 9 to 12 hours over 24 hours.
Three family habits: phones out of the bedrooms, the last hour without screens, regular schedules — including the parents.
The night, a garment
There is in the Book an image I have loved for a long time:
وَجَعَلْنَا نَوْمَكُمْ سُبَاتًا وَجَعَلْنَا اللَّيْلَ لِبَاسًا وَجَعَلْنَا النَّهَارَ مَعَاشًا
“We have made your sleep a repose, the night a garment, and the day a time for the activities of life.”
Quran, Surah An-Naba’ (78), verses 9–11 — translation of meaning.
The night as a garment. Think about it. A garment covers, protects, shelters. It is not asked to applaud our achievements. It is there, simply, to wrap us. I like imagining the night this way: a fabric laid over the world, inviting the body and the mind to lay down the weight of the day.
The Arabic word subât, associated with sleep, evokes cessation, interruption of activity, and rest. The day is given to the affairs of life; the night reminds us that we are not made to act constantly. Sleeping is not a weakness. It is accepting our measure.
Another verse speaks of the calm to which the night is destined :
هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ اللَّيْلَ لِتَسْكُنُوا فِيهِ وَالنَّهَارَ مُبْصِرًا ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَسْمَعُونَ
“It is He who has made for you the night a time for quiet, and the day for seeing. There are signs there for a people who listen.”
Quran, Surah Yunus (10), verse 67 — translation of meaning.
“To find tranquility there”: those are the words I would like to share with you when you drift from one video to another. The sound of a phone does not need to be loud to fill a room. Even when silent, it can continue to command our attention.
The one who does not sleep, and those who need to sleep
You know this passage from the Throne Verse:
لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ
“Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him.”
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara (2), verse 255, excerpt — translation of meaning.
In this verse, the absence of sleep is a divine attribute, not a model of endurance we are asked to imitate. We ourselves need rest. It is a humility lesson that our era makes hard to hear. It promises us to always be available: learn during the day, entertain at night, respond at midnight, rise early, and start again. But fatigue does not disappear because we decide to ignore it.
I know I am not always exemplary either. I too have checked my phone while I was asking you to put yours away. Perhaps that is where our conversation must begin: not only with what I expect from you, but with what I am ready to change with you.
What sleep does for us, while we sleep
I am not a doctor and I do not want to turn the verses into a biology manual. Faith and science do not speak the same language, even when they both invite us to take rest seriously. But sleep studies offer useful reference points.
Experts generally recommend 8 to 10 hours of sleep per night for adolescents 13 to 18 years old. For children 6 to 12, the recommended need is 9 to 12 hours over twenty-four hours. These are not numbers meant to scare you; they help us see the gap between what a growing body needs and what we actually give it.
Sleep participates in memory consolidation, attention, and emotional regulation. A night too short does not erase every lesson learned, but the accumulation of shortened nights can complicate learning. It can also make us more irritable, less patient, quicker to turn a setback into a dispute. How often here have we mistaken fatigue for bad mood?
And the screen? Its light can contribute to delaying sleep, but it is not the only culprit. There is especially what happens within the screen: a conversation we do not want to leave, a game that does not end, a video that starts automatically, the fear of missing what others see. We think we are choosing five more minutes; sometimes an hour goes by.
Checkpoints on sleep and screens
13–18 years: 8 to 10 hours of sleep per night; 6–12 years: 9 to 12 hours per twenty-four hours (recommendations from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, echoed by the CDC).
Screens: the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends avoiding screens at least one hour before bedtime and not leaving phones in bedrooms during the night.
Rhythm: keep relatively regular bedtimes and wake times, including on weekends, without turning an exception into a rule.
Rest is not owned only by the night
Another verse touches me because it is larger than our habits:
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ مَنَامُكُمْ بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ وَابْتِغَاؤُكُمْ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَسْمَعُونَ
“Among His signs are your sleep by night and by day, and your seeking of His grace. There are signs for a people who listen.”
Quran, Surah Ar-Rum (30), verse 23 — translation of meaning.
Day sleep is also mentioned. This nuance matters: the text does not state a rigid schedule for everyone. Some work at night, others rest in the day; rhythms vary with life obligations and seasons. The need for rest, though, remains.
So I am not asking you to count minutes as if counting faults. I ask you to pay attention to a need that the modern noise too often pushes to the background.
The world can wait until morning
I can already hear your objections: “Everyone is online at night.” “I’ll miss something.” “It’s the only moment when my friends are free.” I hear you. Your conversations matter, and I won’t pretend otherwise. But friendships worth keeping can also learn to respect your sleep.
The message received at one in the morning can usually be read upon waking. The video scrolling by is not a debt to pay. And if something is truly urgent, we will find a way together to stay reachable without letting all notifications rule our nights.
I do not want to tell you that one lost hour can never be recovered: a longer night can help after a stretch of fatigue. But it does not make desirable the habit of depriving ourselves of sleep. Regularity protects better than repeated catch-up.
Three rules, and a father’s promise
I propose three simple rules. Not as a regulation posted on the fridge, but as a pact we can keep together.
Our pact for the house nights
1. Phones sleep outside the bedrooms. Yours and mine. We will choose a common place for charging them. If you need an alarm, we will use a clock that only rings.
2. The last hour before bed is screen-free. Read a few pages, talk, prepare the backpack, pray quietly, listen to the house settle back into calm: we will each find our own way to slow down.
3. We will seek regular schedules. Weekends will not be a perfect replica of school days, but we will avoid shifting the night by several hours for no reason. And if we fail one night, we will start again the next day.
I will also ask you for something that rules cannot replace: tell me what keeps you awake. Is it an important conversation? A worry? A lesson you fear not knowing? Or simply the habit of scrolling through the screen? I would rather understand before forbidding. Sometimes a child needs less a new instruction than a parent still available to listen.
The day will be returned to us
A final verse closes the circle begun with night as garment:
وَهُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ اللَّيْلَ لِبَاسًا وَالنَّوْمَ سُبَاتًا وَجَعَلَ النَّهَارَ نُشُورًا
“It is He who has made for you the night a garment, sleep a repose, and the day a return to life.”
Quran, Surah Al-Furqan (25), verse 47 — translation of meaning.
What I love here is the morning. The day returns after the break. It does not ask us to have done everything the night before; it invites us to start again. Life is not a race that is taken away from us as soon as our eyes close.
When you were little, I used to come tuck you in. You asked for a story, then another, a glass of water, a door left slightly open. You have grown up. I can no longer tuck you in as before, and perhaps you would not let me anymore.
But I can still wish you the same thing: a night that covers you like a garment, sleep that lets you regain strength, and a morning when you are truly there — mind clearer, heart lighter, ready to inhabit the day that is given to you.
Turn off, my children. I too am putting away my phone.
Your father.
