I'm Still Laughing!!!

[Country Kids]

Yes, receiving a 2 1/2 break during a 10-12 hour day get us to almost a regular 8 hour day. Wait, as posted above those people only work 6.5 hours. No there is nothing wrong wanting a 2 hour break at once during your day!

Also, then there are the children that won't take a nap but as soon as mom and dad get them in the car to take them home the fall asleep for the night. If they are woke up they get a second wind and don't fall asleep till the wee hours of the morning! Then guess what, you deal with the grumpy child in the morning.

I just had one fall asleep and we only have 15 min. left of naptime. Do I let them sleep or let them sleep till mom and dad get here. After not getting to eat lunch again, clean, do paperwork, etc. I'm really not in the mood to deal with this child or the grumpiness. They also woke up one of the other children so I have had nooooooooo break for the day. I can feel a headache and stomache coming on.

[Lucy]

See, for me, it is MORE work to try to keep one down than it is to allow him to look at books, play puzzles, etc. If he's a non-napper, at some point being made to stay laying down for 2.5 hours is going to cause him to become disruptive.

Honestly, I think providers stress way too much over naptime and make their job much more difficult than it needs to be.

And, back to the old debate that caligirl threw out there.....YES, we all NEED a break....but NO ONE NEEDS 2.5 HOURS.....I don't know any worker in any job that gets THAT much of a break time.

Amen and high five. This exactly.

[Unregistered]

Nap time vs. Rest time

There is no difference here. I don't care what it's called as long as it remains quiet.

I understand that daycare kids may not want to sleep and that's OK with me. They don't have to sleep but they do have to be quiet so that the other kids can sleep. I understand that some parents don't want their kids napping at daycare because they think that no nap at daycare will mean less drama at bedtime. I understand but I'm not willing to change my policy for one child's parents.

If I allowed one kid to stay up and play quietly during nap time, I would most certainly have problems with other parents wanting their children to be allowed to stay up and play during nap time. Another problem that could come up is that even quiet activities can get loud and if there are 2 children awake at the same time, they will want to socialize and before long, it can get super loud. If it's just one awake child, then the expectation for me to be the child's one on one nap time playmate arises. During nap time, I don't engage the kids in conversation because I don't want to teach the kids how to stall for more time before nap time. They get my full attention for every other moment of the day.