AAHH--Schoolagers And Naptime

[BusyBee]

I thought this summer was going to be awful with 4-5 school agers during nap time, but actually they are doing really well with it. We decided (after help from this forum) to have them all lay down and completely quiet until the younger ones go to sleep. No books, nothing. Usually 2-3 of them fall asleep before the younger ones. Then, once the younger ones are all asleep (or at least the ones who will fall asleep), the school agers are allowed to play their DS on mute (this is the ONLY time during the day they're allowed to play them). So they have the option of a DS (if they brought one), or a "quiet time box", which is little shoe boxes with fun pads, crayons, silly putty, dry erase board with markers, lacing cards (appropriate for this age group), puzzles (that only the school agers are allowed to use) etc. These items can only be played with during nap time, and each box have different items in them and are switched around each day (so every day of the week they get a different box). That way they don't get too bored with them. Plus every so often we change out the items or add a new item or something. The only problem we have with them now are just that they keep getting up every few minutes wanting to ask a question, or going to the bathroom, asking when everyone will be getting up, etc. But they're getting better about not doing that and they are very quiet, and have never had one of them wake up another child (and all of the cots are in the same room, school agers and younger). We told them in the very beginning what the rules were and if they weren't quiet they would HAVE to go to sleep like the younger ones. It's good to have as a consequence during the day too, when their attitudes start getting really bad, "oh, I see you need some extra sleep. If you can't change your attitude, I'll let you take a nap today." It works really well
Hope some of these ideas will work for you.
By the way our school agers are all 6-8 yrs, so we got off lucky. Anyone older would not get along well here. They would be bored out of their mind, and when they're bored we all know what happens... And nap time would have been a night mare!!!! What are the ages of your schoolagers?

7-8 years old. Thanks for the tips!

[QualiTcare]

how about having them read books? i know, it sounds impossible, but it can work. i had to keep 20-40 school agers quiet one summer when the young kids were sleeping (if it was raining or miserable outside after an hour or so). at first they were like NOOO, but after i read a chapter of goosebumps they were begging me to read more. with 2 or 3, i'd try splitting them up to read independently. i had the kids CHOOSE a book they wanted to read and split them up to do that too, and if a 5 year old couldn't read, some lucky 5th grader got a "reading buddy." if you look, you can find videos to go along with some of the book series like goosebumps or babysitter's club so you can let them watch in parts as they read or watch all at once when they finish, but i found that splitting it up kept their interest bc they couldn't wait to see what would happen next. you could go to the library and get the books/videos for free. it seems like kids never see their parents read anymore so they equate reading with school and "work." you could change that for them - at least for the summer which is when they need it most.

[boysx5]

thats one reason I stopped doing S/A they don't ever sit quietly at nap time and I need that time for me

[Meyou]

They have 3 choices here: play outside without screaming, play quiet as mice in the playroom or nap. If you have to be warned about #1 or #2 more than once then you automatically get to nap. I don't have many problems. They aren't allowed in and out here either.