Dr. Says No More Naptime

[Country Kids]

Found out a little more on the sleep of the child. Child is getting up about 6:15 and is at childcare by 7:00. Eats breakfast and plays hard all morning. Was in kindergarten this past year, in the morning and then would take a nap in the afternoon. But for the summer they play all morning, plant flowers, do crafts, etc., then lunch then lay down at 1:00 and back up by 3:00. Child isn't picked up till 5:30 and then is up till about 1:00-2;00 in the morning. So from what the provider and I can figure out from this is the child is sleeping about 4-5 hours at night and then her two hour nap. Has been with the provider for about a year and this has just started happening since school was out about a month ago. My kids are way more tired in the summer from all the playing we do. Counselor said the child should be sleeping about 10 hours a night but even with her nap she isn't even close to that. From her naptime till she is following asleep she is up about 10-11 hours! The only thing I wonder if she doesn't take a nap would she be ready for bed at 5:00 in the evening before she is even picked up. Provider did keep her up the best she could but the child was sooooo tired that she ended up sleeping I believe.

[Meeko]

I couldn't function with a 13 hour work day and no break. Even my schoolies take a 2 hour nap while here over summer break. The older ones are aged 10, 11 and 12. They don't complain and are the hardest to wake up!

Eons ago, I tried it. Mommy promised that little Jimmy didn't need a nap and wold be very good at nap time. "Jimmy" was quiet for about 20 minutes and then the whining started.

"I'm bored"
"Is nap time over yet"
"I'm done playing with this...what now?"
I want the kids to wake up and play with me"
"Can I go outside?"

I spent the whole of nap time entertaining one child. I was exhausted at the end of the day. My paperwork wasn't done and I was behind on chores because he needed constant entertaining.
Puzzle..10 minutes...done.
Coloring...5 minutes...done
Story...then another....then another.....
Movie....fell asleep......Oh no! Mommy didn't want that!

Two hours to an awake kid is a lifetime...

Finally! all his buddies up at 3PM

Thennnnn.... he was cranky and ended up falling asleep on the couch.

Thennnnnn.......Sara's Mommy decided she didn't a nap either. Jimmy and Sara spent the nap time hours tormenting each other and driving me crazy. Then they BOTH fell asleep later in the afternoon.....

The rules changed...

EVERYBODY SLEEPS AT MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They need the rest and SO DO I!! ::::::

[Kaddidle Care]

While I tend to agree with the Dr. about eliminating the afternoon nap, it will take some time as the child IS on a schedule. Right now she NEEDS that afternoon nap because her nighttime sleep is so little.

I wonder what their bedtime routine is if there is any. Waiting for the child to crash and burn will give her that 1-2:00AM bedtime. The parents might invest in a white noise machine to try to extend that nighttime sleep. A warm bath, brush teeth and a book read at bedtime is classic. I had difficulty with my first and found a children's tape player with those little books on tape were a life saver. He would lie in bed and listen to the tape - if he wasn't sleepy enough when it was done he would turn it over and listen again. Rarely did he have to listen to it a 3rd time.

They cannot mandate you to eliminate her nap. If they want their child up, then they need to find other care for her or yet, perish the thought, actually take care of her themselves. And yes, she WILL be little miss cranky pants until she adjusts to the new routine. They want YOU to experience that, not them. hehe!

Everyone wants to press that "Easy Button". Sorry folks, parenting isn't easy.

[cheerfuldom]

Nap time doesn't mean that they have to actually sleep, no one can force that but you can do a quiet time. My 3.5 year old rarely naps but she does lay in her bed and read books and play quietly for 1.5 to 2 hours each day so mama gets a break. I'm not too proud to admit that I need nap time too! I have three kids of my own plus a 9 week old that is still co-sleeping and it is just too much to be on duty 24/7 (paid or unpaid)

[Kaddidle Care]

Wow, a lot of providers seem like they couldn't survive without all their children napping. When I first read the comments I thought it was "just a saying" but you really CAN"T have a good day if a 5 yr old doesnt nap?! What happened to adapting a little? These are kids, not robots! Every day, and every kid is different.

And do you think providers put their feet up, eat bonbons and watch their soaps during nap time? ::::::
Nap time is catch up time - productive time for providers. It's when they do their cleaning, activity prep and maybe, just maybe they take a whole 10 minutes to eat a bite or two of lunch.

Having one child up will soon escalate to having 5 children up because try as they may, they can't be quiet for 2 hours and will wake up the others. Productive time goes out the window at that point.

Providers work 10-12 hours a day and are paid very little for their time. SOME parents actually appreciate all that they do.

[countrymom]

hmm, I have to agree that at 5 thats too old for a nap. Would I eliminate them from my daycare, umm NO. I think by saying that if they don't need a nap then they have outgrown the daycare sounds like a selfish reason on a providers part. And it makes you look like all you do is eat and watch tv thats why you want the kids to sleep. I also find it hard to believe that children can't play quietly, because I don't have a problem with the kids, and I still have to time to clean, make dinner, get my stuff ready for the day.

[Country Kids]

What I find funny is everyone says five years old is to old for a nap! Why would be my question? If their body is tired it is needing a nap. I speak from experience of being a napper. All through first grade the last part of the day was storytime and each day the teacher woke me up from it to get on the bus to go home. Did they get mad, kick me out of school-no, the teacher knew it was a very quiet part of the day I had been at school since 8:30 and it was probably around 2:30 or so and I was tired. I got on the bus at 7:00 so it was a long day for me.

I have struggled with tiredness/sleepyness all my life in the afternoon. Last year I was tested and tested for what was causing it. They could find nothing! My doctor gave me samples of a medicine that worked wonders for me but the insurance decided that since I didn't have the "right" diagnoses they wouldn't cover it. Doing some self diagnosis I think I have some sort of SAD and it is not fun to live with. This year has been an ok year-not as tired-but starting to feel it again so thinking of going back to the doctor and going from there.

I'm wondering if this little one isn't suffering from some sort of insomnia maybe. Especially since it is lighter out later and it has only started since schoool go out last month.

[nannyde]

hmm, I have to agree that at 5 thats too old for a nap. Would I eliminate them from my daycare, umm NO. I think by saying that if they don't need a nap then they have outgrown the daycare sounds like a selfish reason on a providers part. And it makes you look like all you do is eat and watch tv thats why you want the kids to sleep. I also find it hard to believe that children can't play quietly, because I don't have a problem with the kids, and I still have to time to clean, make dinner, get my stuff ready for the day.

Yes I will go with selfish self preservation. It's okay to watch tv and eat whle the kids sleep.

I don't have the kids all nap so the house is quiet for the sleeping kids. My house is big enough that I could run a circus during nap and the sleeping kids would snooze thru it. It's the direct supervision and care I'm not willing to do. I want all the kids on the same schedule so when we are doing the "direct care" of the kids we are doing it with a group of kids ... not one adult to one kid or one adult to two kids. I can't make any money with that kind of ratio.

[Blackcat31]

What I find funny is everyone says five years old is to old for a nap! Why would be my question?

My DD still naps every day for atleast 1-2 hours. She has always done this. When she got to be school age, she took her nap right afterwards. She always went to bed at a decent hour and would be a bear without a nap. Oh, and I should mention she is 23 yrs old. LOL!! ::

[jen]

Almost without fail, my kindergartners come home and WANT a nap...heck, I have a first grader who falls asleep almost daily after school!

[Crystal]

I don't think napping is a "one size fits all" thing. Some children need a nap, some don't. I think for the provider, it should be their choice wether or not they insist all children nap, but they should be prepared to lose clients/children when the child ages out of naptime. I do not think it is fair to force a child to lay on a mat awake for hours so that the provider can have her "break" I think providers need to be honest and fair and let the child go if they do not want to accomodate a non-napping child. It's really simple...

[dEHmom]

yeah, my 5 yo and 7 yo are exhausted by about 4 or 5 pm, but we can't let them sleep at that time, so we make them stay awake, eat supper, have a bath and then it's bedtime at 730. When kids are waking up at 6am, they can't handle it past 5pm. They are grumpy and tired. If they are up too long, then they hit their second wind and good luck getting them to bed once that hits. Biggest thing is keeping them busy so they forget how tired they are until bedtime.

We always have some relaxing time before bed as well. Helps settle them down.


As for the comment about too bad for us providers if we don't get that nap time in with ALL the kids. That's not fair. If you work outside of the home, you have scheduled breaks. Its illegal to not have a certain number of breaks for a certain amount of time at work. If you work an 8 hour day, you get 2- 15 min breaks (coffee break) and 1 either half hour or 1 hour lunch break. You can leave work and do whatever you want/need to do, sit outside have a coffee or a cigarette etc. It's not fair to judge a daycare provider for wanting that time during a 9-12 hour day to have some time to do dishes, clean up toys, prepare for the next activity, sweep, mop, or whatever else she needs to do. When everyone else leaves work, they get to leave and forget about it. Why should us providers have to put in an extra 2-3 hours AFTER daycare hours to clean up toys, and everything else? If we close at 530 that means we are cleaning up until 830 pm. I go to bed much earlier than that.

I don't think it's ok to force a child to nap that doesn't want a nap. But for children who are bad during nap/quiet time, they disrupt all the other children, and prevent the provider from doing what needs to be done. If the child can lay down on a mat and read a book or play a puzzle without disrupting others, that's great. But the provider still needs to supervise that child more than she would if that child was sleeping.

I also agree that if the child has outgrown naps, and everyone else is, then it might be time for that child to find a different daycare. But at the same time, that poor child will have to adjust to a new one. And if every daycare did this, where would school aged children go when school is out? Would all toddlers/children who no long take naps because mom/dad doesn't want them to have to switch to a daycare that is willing? How many daycares are willing not to? I know kindy's still have to have mat/quiet time. Grade 1 is the first year without for many schools.

[Meeko]

I've never had a child just lie there. I think we wear them all out and they WANT to sleep! Even the ones who TELL me they aren't tired.....are asleep in minutes.

[Crystal]

I've never had a child just lie there. I think we wear them all out and they WANT to sleep! Even the ones who TELL me they aren't tired.....are asleep in minutes.

Oh, beleive me, there are MANY providers who make them just lay there. Many of them are quite mean about it as well.

Yes, my kids are all worn out and fall asleep when they lay down, but I don't make the older kids lay down to nap....they stay up and participate in quiet activities....books, playdough, drawing, etc.

[countrymom]

yeah, my 5 yo and 7 yo are exhausted by about 4 or 5 pm, but we can't let them sleep at that time, so we make them stay awake, eat supper, have a bath and then it's bedtime at 730. When kids are waking up at 6am, they can't handle it past 5pm. They are grumpy and tired. If they are up too long, then they hit their second wind and good luck getting them to bed once that hits. Biggest thing is keeping them busy so they forget how tired they are until bedtime.

We always have some relaxing time before bed as well. Helps settle them down.


As for the comment about too bad for us providers if we don't get that nap time in with ALL the kids. That's not fair. If you work outside of the home, you have scheduled breaks. Its illegal to not have a certain number of breaks for a certain amount of time at work. If you work an 8 hour day, you get 2- 15 min breaks (coffee break) and 1 either half hour or 1 hour lunch break. You can leave work and do whatever you want/need to do, sit outside have a coffee or a cigarette etc. It's not fair to judge a daycare provider for wanting that time during a 9-12 hour day to have some time to do dishes, clean up toys, prepare for the next activity, sweep, mop, or whatever else she needs to do. When everyone else leaves work, they get to leave and forget about it. Why should us providers have to put in an extra 2-3 hours AFTER daycare hours to clean up toys, and everything else? If we close at 530 that means we are cleaning up until 830 pm. I go to bed much earlier than that.

I don't think it's ok to force a child to nap that doesn't want a nap. But for children who are bad during nap/quiet time, they disrupt all the other children, and prevent the provider from doing what needs to be done. If the child can lay down on a mat and read a book or play a puzzle without disrupting others, that's great. But the provider still needs to supervise that child more than she would if that child was sleeping.

I also agree that if the child has outgrown naps, and everyone else is, then it might be time for that child to find a different daycare. But at the same time, that poor child will have to adjust to a new one. And if every daycare did this, where would school aged children go when school is out? Would all toddlers/children who no long take naps because mom/dad doesn't want them to have to switch to a daycare that is willing? How many daycares are willing not to? I know kindy's still have to have mat/quiet time. Grade 1 is the first year without for many schools.

your right, but read some of the posts, they are basically saying that if they don't take a nap then I don't want them here, no matter what kind of child it is. So basically no matter how good a child is or how good the parents are many providers would rather get rid of child because they don't nap so they can have quiet time, thats what is wrong. And they are no better than those parents that we complain about. There is a difference between a child needing sleeping and forcing sleep. Not all children need naps at the age of 5, so why are people forcing them to sleep.