California Nap Time Laws

[CityGarden]

After being home during holiday for the past week my daughter is finally sleeping through the night. She takes a 30-60 minute nap during the day, usually in the car while running errands. Napping at home is impossible but she needs at least 30 minutes. At school, also kindercare she is sleeping for two hours and then up every night at 2:30. The teachers will have the other kids wake up a student still sleeping past nap time, their way around the not being allowed to wake up the children so that's good. Now, I'm wondering if they can keep a child awake for the first hour with quiet activity then let them sleep for the last hour. They would still be providing quiet time and I would still get to sleep through the night. As for home routine, dinner is between 5:30-6, bath routine starts at 7 then quiet play time or snuggles. Bed at 9.

I think it is great your child is thriving with you at home. I am a HUGE sleep advocate and if your child is thriving with you being present maybe the challenge is not the nap time at daycare but the lack of quality time bonding with the parent.... When the child is in daycare/kindercare they are not seeing you or connecting with you for 8+ hours a day, they are seeing and connecting with you at best for a couple hours per day before bed. Connection plays a HUGE role for all parents, it is possible but you have to work at it, especially working parents . Often children stay up later or gets up early to "connect" with parents, etc. but they do not know how to express it.

I do not suggest group care to all families and personally my own daughter & I would have not been a good family for group care. If you find yourself wanting a custom schedule and individualized care I highly suggest you seek out the individual care a nanny provides. Group care really needs to cater to the best needs of the group overall....

[Unregistered]

Mandatory Sleeping

With a 4 yr old, I feel that forcing them to lie on their mat for 2 - 2/12 hours a day where the child does not sleep, is child abuse. Not everyone needs the same amount of sleep, and I think that this is just an excuse for daycares to use this time where they can have only 1 person being with the kids and not having to do anything with them.
If a child does not sleep within the first hour,they should be allowed to go and sit in the reading corner or be put with other kids that dont sleep in a classroom where they can at least do something constructive.

[boy_mom]

I agree, it is hard for a child to be asked to sit still the entire nap time. Sounds like it's time for you to find a more age appropriate environment that better suits your child's needs!!

[Cat Herder]

With a 4 yr old, I feel that forcing them to lie on their mat for 2 - 2/12 hours a day where the child does not sleep, is child abuse. Not everyone needs the same amount of sleep, and I think that this is just an excuse for daycares to use this time where they can have only 1 person being with the kids and not having to do anything with them.
If a child does not sleep within the first hour,they should be allowed to go and sit in the reading corner or be put with other kids that dont sleep in a classroom where they can at least do something constructive.

Many daycares offer exactly what you are describing. Find one that suits your child's needs instead of asking your current one to change their more affordable policies. Know that a no-nap service costs more because it requires more employees to cover lunches, planning and breaks.

[hwichlaz]

Even full day kindergartens in California have nap/rest time for the first trimester of the school year. Then they slowly phase it out during the 2nd trimester. My dd’s Kindy teacher was phasing it out is hard, that most of the kids still fall asleep during the 90 min quite time every day.

[hwichlaz]

The only time my kids don’t quickly fall asleep, is if we’ve been trapped inside because of inclimant weather and I have failed to give them enough gross motor play to make up for it. I keep children through age 6.

[hannonman]

Re

I work at a center in CA and we are allowed to wake the kids up, when nap time is over. We only have an hour nap period from approximanly 1-2. Not all of our kids will fall asleep. We have to wake the kids up by 3, as everyone goes outside then.

[Unregistered]

I think one must remember that although no laws stop them from waking a chile up, there also arent any that say that they must be woken either. Some daycares.both centers and family child care homes, have their own policies and can do so as long as they dont go against state regulations. If your daycare wont wake your child up when you prefer then finding new daycare that can better meet your needs is a good option.

Letting a kid lie there for 2 hours then letting it sleep until 4:30 is called being LAZY.

[Cat Herder]

Letting a kid lie there for 2 hours then letting it sleep until 4:30 is called being LAZY.

Not necessarily.

Not all kids come from quiet, restful, subdivisions where they have a consistent schedule, full bellies and clean bedding every night.

We must meet their needs, too.

[Unregistered]

With a 4 yr old, I feel that forcing them to lie on their mat for 2 - 2/12 hours a day where the child does not sleep, is child abuse. Not everyone needs the same amount of sleep, and I think that this is just an excuse for daycares to use this time where they can have only 1 person being with the kids and not having to do anything with them.
If a child does not sleep within the first hour,they should be allowed to go and sit in the reading corner or be put with other kids that dont sleep in a classroom where they can at least do something constructive.

Normaly I would agreee I don’t like make them sit quiet for 2 hours, though it’s lincesing policy. Though I don’t agree it is child abuse. But if thier are a lot preschool kids in the reading area that could turn into a distraction. Example: Mentor J was reading Child K (only awake child) a stories (which I didn’t think we were allowed to do) they were booth loud, though no one woke up. If awake kids were all on the couch having preschool sit quietly for 2 hours is also a challenge even with a book. And people could proably make an argument that, be reading aloud is a distraction (see state code)

[Unregistered]

This question is directed specifically to those who work in California Daycare Centers, or are familiar with California laws pertaining to nap time in Daycare centers.

This question pertains to my two 3 year olds twins (37 months to be exact) who have transitioned from a home daycare to a daycare center (KinderCare). The transition was actually smoother than expected. They are enjoying it and are socializing, playing and learning more here than they would have before.

While in the home daycare and at home on Friday's and weekends they may or may not nap. They would lie down for a nap and usually fall asleep within a short time. However if an hour / hour-half has gone by and they are still awake, we would let them get up and resume playing. This usually happens about 1/3 of the time for either one of them and has been this way for the last six months. Otherwise, if they lie there longer than that, just like you and I, they will eventually fall asleep. In this case, they end up sleeping too long, their day is gone, they wake more tired, and are extremely moody. So we long since learned, it was better to let them get up and get on with their day.

On a couple of occasions when my wife has picked them up around 4-4:30, she has found my daughter still sleeping while other kids were playing around her. The reason she's still sleeping is because it took her an hour-half/two hours to fall asleep. We asked KinderCare to please let her get up if she has not fallen asleep after an hour-half, and if she does eventually fall asleep that late, to please at least wake her up by 3:00. They're response was that by law they cannot prevent a child from sleeping, and they cannot wake them up.

Now if this is true, at what point is it determined that they have not "prevented" the child from sleeping, but instead the child simple does not need to nap that day? Based on their response, it seems they will let a child lie quietly for the full two hour window; and if the child falls asleep 1hr 55mins into quiet time, they will let them sleep indefinitely. This to me is a form of forcing the child to take a nap. Who among us can lie quietly after a nice lunch for two hours and not fall asleep? I know I will. This does not mean my body requires daily naps.

I tried googling the California Law on this topic, but I can only find that daycare providers must allow a child a nap environment and quiet time. I don't see anything on time limits or not being allowed to wake a child. I know the issue of children napping comes up a lot, so there must be more guidelines on these limitations. There needs to be a clear definition on what entails quiet time. If the point is for the child to lie down, unwind, and rest with the means to nap, then 1 hour is enough. If his/her body requires a nap, it will nap. Otherwise, forcing a child to lie still for two hours straight when they do not require a nap is unnatural. Can someone help me understand how the law is written and/or point me to some documentation?

Thanks

Hi Crystal. I work in a CA lincesed Center. It is also a center for research And 4 hours does seem to long. We are allowed to wake them up. Nap Is from approx 12:30-2. (So 1 and 1/2 hour). Many teachers will wake up kids at 2. All kids/teacher need to outside by 3.
4 hours seems way to long.

[Unregistered]

Eddit to Quote

Normaly I would agreee I don’t like make them sit quiet for 2 hours, though it’s lincesing policy. Though I don’t agree it is child abuse. But if thier are a lot preschool kids in the reading area that could turn into a distraction. Example: Mentor J was reading Child K (only awake child) a stories (which I didn’t think we were allowed to do) they were booth loud, though no one woke up. If awake kids were all on the couch having preschool sit quietly for 2 hours is also a challenge even with a book. And people could proably make an argument that, be reading aloud is a distraction (see state code)

Making a correction. Are Center only makes kids rest for 1 1/2 hours not 2. From 12:30 (approx) - 2. We wake kids up at 2.

[MarinaVanessa]

Hi Crystal. I work in a CA lincesed Center. It is also a center for research And 4 hours does seem to long. We are allowed to wake them up. Nap Is from approx 12:30-2. (So 1 and 1/2 hour). Many teachers will wake up kids at 2. All kids/teacher need to outside by 3.
4 hours seems way to long.

This will no longer be the case come November/December in CA. Look up the new safe sleep regulation draft coming in, we can't force a child to sleep nor wake a child according to how it's currently written ... that's both center and FCC.

[hwichlaz]

This will no longer be the case come November/December in CA. Look up the new safe sleep regulation draft coming in, we can't force a child to sleep nor wake a child according to how it's currently written ... that's both center and FCC.

Do you have a link to that? The proposed changes I’m seeing only apply to infants.

[sharlan]

Do you have a link to that? The proposed changes I’m seeing only apply to infants.

I couldn't find it either.