Quiet Time - How to Do This?

My daughter really likes the TAG reader. She can have it read the book, she can read the words along with the book, word by word, or she can play the little games that are in the book. She usually falls asleep these days and then I get extra quiet time. She sometimes likes to play with her Little Ponies or dolls. She often puts them to bed and then she will fall asleep, too. My daughter is now 5 and we have had cycles of calm at quiet time or constant wanting of attention. Someone mentioned awhile back that you can add some minutes to her time if she comes out of her room and a few less minutes if you have to go into her room if noisy.

She may not be quite old enough for the TAG reader, but there is a younger version, the TAG Jr. and my 2.5 yr old son loves reading his books with it. Thankfully, he still naps, but my dd did stop naps at 2.5. That was about the time baby bro. was born and I think she was really wanting my attention. But, it had been getting increasingly harder to get her down for a nap.

Good luck to you, and remember, there will probably be cycles of easy and more difficult periods of getting that quiet time.
D.

We also have had a lot of success with books on tape and music during quiet time. I also rotate toys and pull out "new" toys to use during quiet time.

We just started this too. I allow my daughter to choose 2 small non noisy toys for her bed and 2 books. I turn on her cd player and set it for 30 mins. If the music turns off and she is still awake, she can come out, but 50% of the time she falls asleep, so I get about 1 1/2 hours of quiet time.
I wish the quiet time was for an hour on the days she doesn't fall asleep and I might start extending the music to 45 mins or an hour after she gets the routine down.
I think consistence is the key, so once you find something that you both can agree on, then do that every single time.

My first thought is to come-up with a reasonable reward for staying in her room such as going to the park, doing bubbles outside, something small and insignificant that she really looks forward to. If she stays in her room, she gets the reward, if she doesn't stay in there for the alloted time, she loses the reward.

Our 3 year old is a handful at times, and we're actively working on making a concerted effort to reward the good behavior with lots of praise and acknowledgment. It's easy to focus on the things we want to correct, but sometimes praise and reward can be just as motivating.

Good luck! You are NOT alone in the battles vs. the 3 year olds.

When we did quiet time the rule was you don't have to go to sleep but you have to stay in your bed and you have to be quiet. Usually he would end up falling asleep. I think it's too much to expect a 3 year old to have quiet time in the living room with everything else in the house going on. They just can't separate the two. If she comes out of her room turn her around without saying a thing and put her back in her room.

When my daughter stopped taking naps, we let her have rest time. Either with a movie in the playroom with the lights dimmed and a blanket, or playinf quietly in her room without the light on (sunlight used instead). There was one very important rule that she had to follow though, IF she came out of resttime before the timer went off (unless to go potty), she had to take a nap (sleeping rest). a few times of having to go to bed stopped her from interupting rest time. I also lowered the time to only 1 hour instead of 2, because if they don't sleep, its hard to stay put for that long.
Once her hour is up, while brother is still sleeping, we do a special project or game that he isnt old enough to participate in. having that "reward" waiting for her also helps.

I think at 3, that's kind of hard to instill especially if she is naturally lively. Is it because mommy wants some peace and quiet or because your daughter doesn't know how to be still for a moment. When she gets ready to be "quiet" she will do so, and then you will wonder if she is sick. Is she the only child, then quite likely you will always be playmate.

My three-year-old son is the same. He wants me to play with him ALL day, and I need that quiet time as much as he does! I have a CD player in his room that keeps him company and helps a lot. He listens to Elmo's ABCs and Thomas the Train stories or just silly kids music. I think he just likes the background noise and it keeps him company. In the days when he first gave up naps I used to sometimes find him curled up on his bed asleep when nothing else would work!

I love the clock idea, though. Where did you get a clock that turns colours? We could use that for knowing when it's "morning time"....

We found that unguided quiet time in his room was too "open" for our son, so we set up stations for him. "Here is your reading station, here is your lego station, here's the car ramp station, and here's your train set." Having fewer choices helps him to focus better and he always plays by himself better this way.

If he comes out of his room before time's up, we just firmly walk him back and let him know quiet time's not over. We've had to do this multiple times, but after a couple of days he got it and now stays in his room for a full hour.

How long are you instituting quiet time? I'm afraid I think an hour is much too long for a 3-year-old. 45 minutes, would be tops, more like 30. Make sure it's at the same time every day, and you set your daughter up with plenty of fun toys and books to use in that time. Play some soft music to help her relax, and maybe dim the lights. Most importantly, do not give in when she wants you to play with her. Tell her it's quiet time and take her back to her room. Eventually, she'll figure out that coming to get you doesn't produce results. Good luck.