5 Year Old Napper?

Yup. I didn't have my kid start kindergarten until age 6 for that very reason. He never would have made it through the day. Let her nap, and don't worry about a thing. There are advantages to being one of the older kids anyway. Don't let anyone tell you differently.

Just wanted to chime in to let your kiddo sleep. It’s the best thing for her and sleep is so important.

I had the valuable experience of living in Spain for 5 years. I LOVED their culture. Nobody was in a big hurry. Mandatory rest time for everyone after lunch. Driving there was challenging but oh what a beautiful culture to be immersed in. I was there from 12-18. I had the hardest time acclimating back to how things ran in the USA.

Don’t misunderstand, I love the USA. It was hard to transition from low pressure and siestas to a rat race mentality.

Enjoy naps. I personally think we would all operate better if we were made to relax for at least 30 mins after lunch!

Mine will be 7 next month and she still naps on the weekends.

One of my kids stopped napping when he was 4. The other stopped when he was 2 1/2. That's just to say, every kid is different and has different needs and not all kids are done with naps by the time they start kindergarten.

It's very, very frustrating when societal "norms" give us the impression that our kids' needs are bad or wrong or something we need to "fix."

Many preschool say that kids need to be potty trained before they can attend. I get that, to an extent, because most preschools simply do not have the time or the staff to change diapers or help potty train, but really, it is so unfortunate that some parents feee pressured into getting their kids potty trained just so that they can begin benefiting for preschool. My kids were both closer to 4 years old before they were potty trained, and I was very fortunate to find programs for them so that they could still attend preschool (even in a pullup!)

So that was my little soapbox, but my point really is that your child is fine! I think it is fabulous that you are taking a "just go with the flow" approach and let her nap if she wants to. If she still needs her naps when you get close to kindergarten, you will figure out what to do.

One of my kiddos napped still in K (they had 30 min "quiet time" and she was the only one they actually had to wake up each day because she fell so soundly asleep). Its funny because she had the same teacher for 1st grade (multi-age classroom) and she let her still nap with the K kids some days because she STILL needed a nap some days! She was an early to bed kiddo, too!

Let them nap as long as their body tells them they need to. If it isn't disrupting her bedtime routine, I say go for it!!!

Wish I still had nap time . . . for reals.

Our son napped till he was 7 (almost 8) years old.
He was growing rapidly - he shot up 4 inches EACH year at 4 yrs old, 6 yrs old and again at 8 years old.
The growing pains were awful but he really needed the sleep!
In kindergarten they had nap time and his teacher was surprised when he slept deeply enough for rem sleep during naps - but they said he really seemed taller after nap time.
It's like he was growing in his sleep.

In 1st grade they didn't have nap time during school anymore - he sure was a grumpy moody kid in the afternoons.
He still napped on weekends and sometimes had a nap after school.

Some kids do out grow naps sooner than others but it's nothing to worry about if they keep napping.
Sleep is important.
And some societies have siestas or after lunch nap times even at work.

Additional:
Our son is 20 now and will be a junior in college next semester.
He'll sometimes be up all night studying for a test or working on a project.
When he's tired he still naps when he needs to.

Some people never outgrow naps - and there's nothing wrong with that.
For some reason people seem to look forward to sleeping less and less, like that's a good thing - and it's not a good attitude to have.
While everyone needs different amounts it's important that each person gets what THEY need.
So the kid that doesn't need anymore naps at 2 is fine but so is a kid that naps into adulthood.
I don't care how old you are - if you're moody, grouchy, out of sorts - it's nap time and everyone will feel a whole lot better when they are well rested.

One of mine napped solidly until about 3 weeks before he started K and still occasionally napped after that. And our school had full day K, and more than 1/2 of the kids in the class would nap during a 30 minute "quiet time" that the K teacher had.

When I went to kindergarten, and when my mom taught, we had quiet/nap time. They did away with that by the time my kids went through. Some kids still need it. Mine would come home and konk out at the end of the day, especially as they were getting used to school. I used to adjust their bedtime.

One of mine, to this day (tween) still passes out in the car - nap - when we go places. Some kids need naps. Some adults do.

If I read a book in the afternoons? I will crash. It's like if I stop and rest, I'll nap. I have friends who are the same. I don't think it takes much for most people to have an afternoon nap, if given the chance. I think a lot of little kids could - it's just that we expect them not to - once they start school.

If she starts school and still needs one, a little cat nap (even 20 minutes) when home worked for mine until they adjusted. It didn't interfere with bedtime. I found otherwise they were really out of sorts.

ETA: I saw your So What Happened. What time does she go to bed? My kid who naps in car has a later bedtime than my older kids. I just let her stay up later (I was more lax about bedtimes). You could move her bedtime up. My oldest kids went to bed very early - especially at that age. It seemed super early, compared to my younger kids. I just did because they needed their sleep and I wanted them well rested for school (we did before/after school programs when I had a busy career). They did not nap, but as I said, right after dinner, they played for brief while, then it was bath, routine and bed.

So if you need to, you could adjust bed time and start cutting back on nap if you're concerned. If you're worried she won't be able to get through day by time school starts and she is still napping - that's maybe the approach I would take. So long as she gets the sleep she needs? Doesn't matter how.

I'd love a daily nap LOL. When I was a kid, I went to a K-8 school where there was full-day Kindergarten, which included an hour of nap time. I went to a half-day K and took a nap after coming home for lunch. We were all ready for a full day of first grade - I think that going without a nap happens when it needs to.

Heck I'm waaaaayyyyyy past 5 and I'd love to get a nap in if I could. Let the tired girl sleep. Just make sure you start to decrease the nap times to keep her up during the school hours and the bus ride to and from.

mine were done with naps by then but i know plenty of kids who weren't. the nice thing about having a big homeschool community is that kids got to live in their own rhythms without having to accommodate traditional school schedules.
naps are just lovely.
:) khairete
S.

My oldest son took naps until he was 6. Same as yours, 1 1/2 - 2 hours a day. I finally weened him the summer before he started kindergarten. He started on his 6th birthday.
My second son? He stopped napping at 2 1/2. It was awful.

My daughter is 4 and few months and she still naps.. all our kids napped ..omg if she doesn’t! She started daycare and she had the hardest time because they only nap for 1 1/2 hours! Lol she is going full time in August and they nap the same time so I guess she needs to adjust.

But no unless you must stop naps due to school.. I wouldn’t. ( taking into consideration kids get up and go to bed at a reasonable time) so maybe a week before school starts, stop her naps. I know a mom that did not and the child adjusted by himself. Was going to bed earlier to compensate. But took about a month till he adjusted.
Lots of luck!

My kiddos are all older than 5 now. However, I know that when they were 5, if they were tired I let them take a short one. I didn't set a daily nap time though where they had to take one. I personally would start winging your kiddo now so that she gets used to staying awake longer in the day. This way when she does begin to go to school, she wont get naturally tired so soon in the day.
You're the mama though, so I'm sure that you know what will be best for her.