I did a bit of a no no with my daughter who is my oldest, I let her get out of the habit of taking naps for nearly a year. I now can't seem to lure her back into bed at any time during the day for her naps, I may get lucky by tricking her into taking a nap while we watch a movie together on the couch, but that only happens if I'm her cushion, and that makes it hard for me to do the chores around the house that I want to do while they're all asleep, and in my opinion the house is showing that dillema. I've tried coaxing her with after nap treats and I've also just been tough and put her in her bed and just let her get upset, but every time she won't go to sleep and ends up letting that be known around dinner time. Have any other Moms made that mistake? I'm just hoping I didn't realize this too late.
mama A. - she might be done taking naps - shudder. My 5 year old still takes naps most of the time, but there are days he doesn't. I, like the other mom, make him take some "time to himself" he can pick books, play with his guys, whatever he needs to do, as long as it's quiet. That either gives me time to do what I gotta do, or read a book for 1/2 hour with no interuptions....lol. Good luck. L.
All these lovely ladies have great ideas! I would definitely say lay off the nap track and lean towards the rest time. Set a timer and explain that while it's going it's quiet time. Reading, music, putting "babies" to sleep, all while staying one area, or on her bed. Start with a shorter time and work up to about 1 hour. Personally I have all my childcare kids rest for 1.5 hours until they are 6. Even the older ones have quiet time during the day, where they get to watch a movie or read. Under 6 they have to lay down during their quiet time. Friday's are the exception, everyone gets to watch the movie on that day and I find the younger kids still fall asleep and get rest time!
A.,
My son is 4 1/2 and only occasionally takes naps. Every day we insist that he at least have some quiet time. He doesn't have to sleep, but he has to stay in bed, be quiet, listen to his music (a church CD in a cheap CD player) and have a "rest". Most of the time he just plays in his room, but he does (usually) stay fairly quiet.
Another thing that might work with her is place her in bed and lay down with her until she falls asleep. My aunt did that with one of my cousins and cousin was usually asleep in about 10 minutes or so. That has also worked for my son.
Hope this helps,
Melissa
My daughter quit napping, unless she's sick, at around 19 months. Quiet time is awesome. She loves it, drinks a water "baba" or talks to her stuffed monkey. She lets me know when she's done by knocking on her door and saying "Hello, Mommy?" We've been doing this for 6 months and it works great. We have quiet time at 2 or 3 pm (she gets up at 7:30am most days and goes to bed at 8:30pm). I insist on 45 minutes. That may seem a little long, but it's the shortest amount of time in which I can actually accomplish most things I need to do. She sometimes stays in though (voluntarily) for quite a while. And hour or longer is not very unusual.
I think that at the age of 5, naps are pretty much out of the questions, especially if she's gone without them for so long. The quiet time that others mentioned is a great idea. I think for about an hour a day (or at least at a time) would be about all a 5 year old could handle of sitting quietly and entertaining herself. Find a few different quiet, calm activities she might like, such as drawing, practicing letters and numbers or reading, and each quiet time, she can do a different activity to keep from getting bored. Set aside a specific "quiet time" area. I suggest setting in up in a place where she cannot get too easily distracted. Good Luck.
i run a child care and they don't need to 'sleep' during nap time but they need to at least rest - no playing. gives their batteries a recharge =)
