Older Children Napping at Daycare

Is there somewhere she can play or read quietly? Just a corner of a room vs running around? My DD no longer naps, either, but sometimes I give her crayons and paper and declare it "quiet time".

She may not want to nap or need a nap but she can still have quiet time where she lays down in her bed for maybe 30 minutes and then she can read quietly for 30 minutes or whatever. Good luck to you!

My son is now 3 and they have a "rule" at his preschool that all of the children must lay down quietly for at least the first 45 minutes. They can cuddle something, read a book quietly or just lay there, but no talking or playing during that time. After that- quiet play only... puzzles, books, coloring.

At her age she may not need a "nap" anymore, but she would certainly benefit from some quiet time each afternoon!

does her school district have full-day KG with quiet time in the afternoon for the 1st semester? Our does...& that's "why" I insist on maintaining naptime/quiet time up until the end.

With my daycare, I model naptime at the larger facilities. I put all of the kids together in my living room. Soft pallets (kiddie sleeping bags), dim lights, sleepy music....& that's it! I work very hard at setting the stage & maintaining the Peace. Babies are in packNplays in the living room for the 1st couple of months...& then they're moved to a bedroom when they're older. They transition out of the packNplay at 18-24 months & rejoin the group in the living room. Hope this helps.....

In my opinion 3 and a half is early to give up the nap. My son is 5 1/2 and just stopped napping, but must have quiet time!! I don't know if you are licensed but I believe the IL standard is 1 1/2 hours of nap/quiet time until kindergarten age. I would go with he quiet time and try and keep her in the same place she has been with books to be quiet. Nap is my ONLY time for me--even to eat lunch!! No way I would give it up with a 3 1/2 year old! Also I feel like at daycare the children come early and are so busy during the day they NEED quiet/nap time--not TV!! After an hour and a half or so TV is OK to keep them quiet until all are up and ready for the afternoon!

I agree with the other posts, "quiet time". My son just recently graduated from preschool and stopped napping-he's 5 and all the kids had to lay down and either read or lay there for some of the time. I still have him do quiet time on weekends, but he doesn't nap at daycare. He can read, color, watch a little tv, but for at least 1 hour it's quiet time.

I would suggest "rest time". I would just explain to the Mom if it does come up that you just don't have the room like you said, plus you need a little break. The majority of daycare centers still have a rest time for the older kids. Maybe she doesn't have to rest as long as the little ones are napping, but maybe she can sit and color or do a quiet activity at the table until naptime is over.

Good Luck

I think it's time for quiet time for her.
Find a corner of the playroom and let her read, play with playdough, or play with special "quiet time toys".
LBC

I also agree with the rest/quiet time. I run a licensed daycare in Cortland, not too far from where you are. With the license, I am required to have all children under 6 have a nap/rest/quiet time. I have kids here up to 5yrs old that still take a nap at my house. I have strong consistency though, so I think that helped over here, especially with 8 kids!! I also keep the babies on a different level so that their crying doesn't wake the others. I have each of my kids in my daycare room, on daycare cots with blankets they brought from home, that way it is their quiet spot. Maybe just encourage her to read a book, or something similar during quiet time. I recently put a radio in their room, with a Baby Einstein cd playing soft music while they sleep. That surprisingly made a huge difference too!! But, I will say, at 3.5, she really does still need a nap, or at the bare minimum, that quiet time.
As for answering to the mom, you could always tell her that if you were licensed (or if you are) that you would be required to give her that state mandatory nap time.
Hope this helps!!!
J.

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My policy is that if a child won't nap they must be able to be quiet so that other kids can nap. I don't use TvV in my daycare, so that isn't an option. And usually when I tell kids they don't have to sleep, but they do have to rest and stay quiet they fall asleep because they really do still need a nap.

I have found it fairly common for kids to go on a nap strike around age 21/2 to 3. They start to resist naps and parents do't think they need them anymore. Often if home and daycare are consistent with having they lay down for a rest time they will resume napping in a pretty short period of time. But I've also found that even if kids don't sleep the rest time is enough to refresh them and they have a better afternoon than if they are allowed to stay up during the entire nap period.

If the Mom complains that naps are interfering with her bedtime, I would put her down later than the other kids. In my experience kids are more willing to be quiet when they know everyone else is already sleeping, and everyone sleeps better if they wake up at the same time than if a child only need an hour of sleep and wakes up right int he middle of everyone else sleeping. I keep monitors in the rooms so I can hear kids waking up and I keep fans to create white noise and help them sleep better and stay asleep in case of sudden loud noises.

You have to do what works best for the majority of your kids in care. If a child isn't napping after an hour of having quiet time, I let them get up and ready color or do puzzles o some other quiet activity. While it's true that you cant "make" kids sleep, rest time at that age is really reasonable and usually necessary.

Good luck!!

I have always been willing to offer tv, books, coloring quietly at the table, or even some of the building sets that can be done quietly during nap time. BUT, I am very strict. If the child can not do it without forgetting that it's quiet time and asking me questions, getting up and running around, making noise that will wake up another child, wanting to go to the bathroom repeatedly because they are bored or even sneaking up and waking up other children because they want their playmates back... Then they SLEEP. No if's, butt's, or and's about it. It's really up to the child.

My daycare provider (in home daycare) told me if a child doesn't want to sleep she puts a movie on for them to watch or they can play quietly in the living room. You don't have to answer to her in a certain aspect. She should be reasonable.. some days my daughter naps at my provider's house some days she doesn't. If she doesn't nap don't try to force her too, THAT is what would piss me off as a mom is if my provider tried to force my child to sleep just because she didn't know what to do with a child during nap time. My provider brings some toys from the playroom that they like to play with in the living room and they can play while the others sleep. The requirement is nap or quiet time so just turn it into quiet time with a book, movie, toys quietly, etc if she doesn't nap, please don't lie and tell the mom you have to give her a nap when the law mandates nap or quiet time. You can't hold her eyes shut so she'll sleep lol.

My daughter is 8 and spent this past summer at an in-home daycare with her 6 and 4 year old brothers. Both of my boys nap like you wouldn't believe it. Well, sleep in general. My daughter will nap if she is really tired, but my sitter's house is very small and so all of the kids nap on mats in the living room/dining room. My daughter is allowed to bring her DSi for nap time so she can play. Or she can bring a book. Sometimes my sitter would set her up with a lap top and let her play online. A 3 year old can't do most of that. Can you set her up with crayons at the table? My daughter stopped napping about that time too. But you also need the down time. So I guess I'm not sure. I'd talk to the mom and let her know that her daughter still needs some down time at your house and what she wants her to do.

If you were licensed you would be able to take out the regulations book from your state and show the mom that children under 5 years of age are required to lay down, to have a scheduled nap time as part of their day. That way when the mom came to you and said that you would have the booklet to show her that you could lose your license to operate if your licensing worker came by to inspect and her child was not on a cot asleep.

That said, a lot of little ones stop taking naps around this age. I understand that. If their routine is consistent they will still lay down and rest quietly on their cots for at least a little while. Unless you want nap-time to stop existing in your home you are going to have to provide this child with things to do on his cot so he will understand it is a different time of day and quiet time not regular playtime.

Could you put fans in the light sleepers' rooms to help drown out the noise of the others? I did that in the nursery with my fourth son, and boy has it helped. We're working on not having the baby wake at 5 in the morning, and a fan in the other boys' room has helped drown out that crying - this way I don't have 4 kids up at five AM.