Keeping Child Awake at Nap Time-Suggestions Please?

[Puddleduck]

Hello! I have a 4 year old dcg who LOVES her naps but her parents don't want her napping anymore. I try to keep her awake but every day it's a struggle.
We watch movies, she brings a tablet to play on, and I have quiet activities for her. Does anyone have any other suggestions on ways to keep her awake?
Thank you!

[Annalee]

I would not do this. I would suggest they pick her up before nap! That always works for me::

[nannyde]

I don't provide service to children who don't need a full afternoon nap. I don't have it built into my fees. If I had a kid up at nap I would have to hire out an adult to supervise them as it is my break.

[Josiegirl]

My only suggestion is if she loves to nap then she probably needs it! Why are the parents against it? Lots of kids that age still take and need naps!

[Josiegirl]

What if you come to a compromise with the parents and tell them you'll offer her things to keep her busy, as long as she's quiet, but this time during the day is quiet time for everyone, including her. If she chooses to sleep, you're not going to change that. They still nap when they're at preschool all day. Are they looking to get her home, feed her, and tuck her into bed?
Sorry but I wouldn't comply either.

[Play Care]

"If DCG has outgrown naps, then she has outgrown my care. I'll date your two week notice for Friday?"

I actually don't mind a child who has truly outgrown a nap and can be quiet while others sleep. Usually this is my SA kids though. But I refuse to entertain a child to keep them up. My days are long enough thankyouverymuch.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I would give her a couple of books and leave her to her own devices (as in, she can read them and stay awake OR she can go to sleep). I'm legally required to offer a rest time to my children after being in care a certain number of hours. If they are still awake after 1 hour, then they get an alternate activity.

[Unregistered]

We are required to provide a place to rest, for kids under schoolage.
For kids who are outgrowing naps (and I do NOT mean the two-year-old!) I set out their cots and a small 3 drawer plastic chest. Drawer 1 is art supplies, usually markers and paper, but other things depending on how well they handle them if I am not right there. Drawer 2 is toys, like puzzles, games, vinyl animals, matching rhyming or alphabet cards, etc. Drawer 3 is books, including toy or book catalogs (my kids love those!)
Any voice above whispering, any inappropriate anything, and their cot moves to the main playroom where everyone else sleeps for the remainder of nap.
The room I use is next to the playroom but has no door so I hang a curtain on a tension rod to provide a visual separation so the younger kids can get to sleep.

[Fiddlesticks]

I also would not keep her up. It is written into my contract that all children in my care during nap time will lay down and rest. If the parents didn't want that, then they would have to make sure their child was not here during nap time.

This school year I moved my nap time to after breakfast instead of after lunch. I did this for a lot of reasons, one being that the children were coming here tired and crabby, so it was all we could do to get to lunch/nap time. There was no productive play or learning time accomplished prior to nap. It has worked out great for my program, we have such happy days now. One side benefit is that parents have stopped complaining about nap. Their children are all ready for bed at 7:00 (which was the time they were all going to bed prior to the change, but they weren't tired so they were fighting it for hours…). What I notice now, however, is that the parents are complaining about how early the children get up in the morning (which they, luckily, have not blamed on nap time). They are all up by 5:00 am, when the parents complain, I say, "what time did he/she go to bed?" and the parent always replies with 6:30/7:00 (:/) and then I shrug and say, "That is 10/10 and a half hours. How long do you think they can go without eating or using the bathroom?" Parents want their children to come home, eat dinner, and then go to bed without a fuss. They also want their children to sleep until right before it is time for daycare. Since I am only open 10 hours a day, and children are not going to sleep for 13/14 hours a night, they cannot have both of these things. They can spend time with their children in the evening, or in the mornings, or in the middle of the night, but they will have to spend time with their children. The children here have not changed the amount of time they are napping, just the amount of time between nap and going home and going to bed. I couldn't change the parent's bedtime schedule, so I changed the schedule here.

[Ariana]

I ignore parents when they ask me to keep their kids up. The child is my priority, not the parents agenda. They think the nap interferes with night sleep but it doesn't. I would let her sleep and tell them that my policy states that children nap here. A non napping child will NEVER fall asleep no matter how long they stay in their beds. My own two kids dropped their naps but still got one hour of quiet time in their beds with the lights off. They never fell asleep.

[Blackcat31]

Hello! I have a 4 year old dcg who LOVES her naps but her parents don't want her napping anymore. I try to keep her awake but every day it's a struggle.
We watch movies, she brings a tablet to play on, and I have quiet activities for her. Does anyone have any other suggestions on ways to keep her awake?
Thank you!

Obviously most daycare providers/programs don't offer that option but since you do and asked for suggestions with that, I'd suggest going to the parents for ideas.

I am sure they can come up with ways to help keep DCG occupied for quiet time.

Do they expect you to wake her if she does fall asleep?
Do you actively have to keep her awake? If so, maybe approach the issue of struggling to stay awake to the parents and ask them what they want you to do.

I am in the same boat as the others and don't offer alternate activities during our designated rest period so I have no suggestions other than to take it to the top (parents).

Good luck! It is definitely hard when you are a group provider expected to fulfill individual needs.

[Puddleduck]

Thank you for your help everyone!
I had it written in my contract that there is a rest period every day and I assumed people would understand that all children must rest. I was wrong and I have now updated it to say that if a child has outgrown nap they have outgrown my program.
I really like this family and since the girl will be leaving in September I'd rather not term.
I am actively keeping her awake- something I will never do with future daycare children. I have talked to the mother about the situation and she hasn't been able to think of any other ways to keep her daughter awake. I think at home on weekends her older siblings keep her engaged enough that it isn't an issue.
Thanks again :-D

[BabyMonkeys]

This school year I moved my nap time to after breakfast instead of after lunch. I did this for a lot of reasons, one being that the children were coming here tired and crabby, so it was all we could do to get to lunch/nap time. There was no productive play or learning time accomplished prior to nap. It has worked out great for my program, we have such happy days now..

I just did the same thing recently. It is fabulous. I don't have cranky little monsters most days. We were all miserable when we tried to make it to lunch. Now they sleep from 10-12:30 and we have a happy day after that.

[Unregistered]

What we have done here is the child rests for the first hour and then we wake them for the second hour for quiet activities (books, puzzles). Its worked well so this way the child is still getting the hour that they need and the parents are happier as they aren't sleeping for two hours.

[Lorna]

I gave in to a parent and have a 2 year old that doesn't nap. Mom insists he doesn't nap at home and napping at daycare is causing problems with his sleeping. I am really doubting that he isn't sleeping on the weekend since everyday now he is falling alseep on my couch during quiet time. I warned the mom that the sleep problem would still happen that he would just adapt to no nap and fight her still at bedtime. nope she wouldn't listen.

I also have a 3 year old same thing. Since the 2 year old was going to be awake I kept up the 3 year old since she didn't nap at home. Well now there are 2 kids sound asleep on the couch. Well starting today I changed what I am doing. I put out cots for the 2 kids that are falling asleep in the daycare room. If they start falling asleep I whisk them off to the daycare room for nap. I am not going to keep nagging at the kids for 2-3 hours to wake up. And I am not telling parents they napped.