Nap Time?? - Blue Earth,MN

For me, it is not a matter of 'letting' them stop taking naps.
My kids, who are 5 and 8... still nap. When/if tired.
Yep.
It is a routine.
I always taught them, that naps are not 'punishments'... it is for their body etc. and their body is telling them, they are tired.

For my son, he will actually get MORE HYPER when tired or over-tired and he gets more boisterous. Because, it is a kid's way, of FORCING themselves, awake.
I know my son, and when he is tired... he will actually tell me, he wants to nap.
My eldest, will nap too, when tired.

When they don't need a nap, then fine.
But everyday is different. Just like adults. Sometimes we are tired and need a nap, other days, not.
I always go by my kids' cues.
And there is no drama, about naps.

My 4 year old still naps and if he doesn't, he just stays in his bed and then it's just quiet time. He'll stay in his room for 2 hours and he could get out if he wanted but he doesn't. Like someone said, it's all about routine. He comes home around 130pm and I tell him he has to nap later. It's like that every single day. So there's no surprise. Good luck.

My daughters are 14 months apart. Younger one turns 4 next week. She was napping up till a month or so ago most every day for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, plus sleeping from about 8:30 pm to 7:30 am every day. She is now in a full day pre-k so she is waking up at 7 am, and going to sleep by 7:30 pm or 8, latest. She is no longer napping. They do a 20 min or so "rest" at school but that's it. My 5 yo stopped daily naps before the 4 yo and I would have her do quiet activities in the living room or in my room, while my younger daughter napped. My younger one was fine with this. I followed their cues, when the 5 yo was really arguing about napping, I knew she was done because she never used to.

I have a 3 and 6 year old. The 6 year old gets quiet time in his room while the younger one naps in his room. The 3yo is starting to fight it, and sometimes I have to lay with him to settle him down, but he still needs them. Who wants to deal with the cranky kid w/o a nap?

I'd say set a time and maybe don't let them watch tv. It stimulates them. Or feed them lunch, let them watch a little, and at 12:30 start the march upstairs (having warned them at 5 minutes to go). I've found that if I let the younger one stay up and try to put him down at 1:30 or later, it's too late. I lost the window and he doesn't sleep. I think the 5 year is fine not napping (assuming she stays in a good mood) but make her stay quiet to rest her brain and body.

And maybe put them to bed a little earlier to compensate.

We all need nap time, if only to catch up on things!

Can your 4 year old read?

I know our daughter could read at this age, so I would have her read to ME. I would fall asleep, then she would either sleep or just look at books quietly..

Maybe she could read to little sister.

I remember our daughter in about 1st grade went over to read to her little cousins. She read slowly since it was a new book and the kids, conked out! hee, hee... My sister and BIL wanted her to go over every evening and get them to sleep, hee, hee.

Remember in all day kinder, they do not nap, they get a story and a few minutes to put their heads down on the desk, so I am not totally surprised your almost 5 year old does not want to nap. They then come home.. have a snack play eat dinner and go to bed early. )A gift from the school!)

Maybe they can just be kept separately, and not have to nap, but look at books quietly for at least an hour.

You are in a pickle because of having allowed the older one to nap downstairs, as you can see kids do pick up on these differences in expectations and will try to use them to their advantage. The only thing I can suggest is that you have your older daughter stay in her room and call it a "rest" time so the younger one doesn't feel she's missing out on something. Appeal to her "big sister" role and tell her that her little sister is watching everything she does and wants to copy her so you need her to help you and "show" her how to rest quietly and nap.

As far as when to stop naps my kids needed them until they were at least 5, and I i just called it a rest time after that and if they fall asleep when they're 10 that's fine by me!

my oldest napped until about age 3.5 and the youngest gave it up at 2 since there was such an interesting sister to play with instead of napping. I did move dinner and bedtime earlier or else the youngest would literally fall asleep on her food.

I don't think the 5 year old needs it. Is the 3rd old fussy when she goes without?

Naps are great. Heck, as an adult, wouldn’t you just love to take a nap some days? But kids need to be weaned off napping as they mature. It’s a tricky task, weaning little ones off daily naps. When is it time to do it? How do you do it? What happens if you try to do it just a little too soon?

When is it time to wean kids off daily naps? Most kids no longer need daily naps by age four. They still may experience minor afternoon drowsiness, but not to the degree that a nap is needed. You can tell when your child is no longer needing daily naps by observing his behaviors. These behaviors are your clues: he has difficulty falling asleep during naptime; when he does nap, he then has difficulty falling asleep at bedtime; when he does not nap, he does not have difficulty falling asleep at bedtime; when he misses a nap, he does not become cranky due to exhaustion.

How do you wean your children off daily naps? Weaning kids off daily naps is a gradual process. First, taper them from two daily naps to one daily nap. If that goes well, then reduce the length of time spent in his once daily nap. Ultimately, you will eliminate the nap all together.

What happens if you try to wean your child just a little too soon? Just because your child fights taking a nap, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t need a nap. Kids often fight taking naps even though they’re clearly exhausted. Their exhaustion is what you need to respond to, not their fighting taking the naps. If you wean your child off napping too soon, you will know it right away: He will be cranky because he’s exhausted. He’s not had enough sleep.

In sum, by observing our kids, seeing and responding to their exhaustion (or lack thereof), we can determine when and how to wean kids off daily naps.

"Quiet Time"
My 3 year old rarely naps at home but takes a one hour "quiet time" in her room while my 1 year old naps at 1.:00. She takes another short quiet time for 30 minutes in the afternoon. I make her a bed on the floor and she plays quietly in her room with toys, listens to music, reads books, etc....
I think this is a great thing and it gives mom a break too ;)
Leah

my kids stopped napping between 2 and 3 years old. At ages 5 and 3 I would not force a nap, but try to encourage down time.

Quiet time! New routine, everyone (including you, if necessary) goes to their room for an hour to be by themselves. You can all sit together in your bed, perhaps, read a story together, and then everyone gets tucked in. Put your three-year-old down first, so that she can go to sleep, then tuck in your five year old, and she can read stories or play quietly if she would like. Then you can go to your room, too. One hour later, everyone can come out.

Yes, your three-year-old will likely give up the nap over the course of the next year, but if you set "quiet time" as a routine now, you can preserve that downtime for yourself during the day, even once your oldest is in school all day.

Once your three-year-old is totally off the nap, we found read-along books from the library to be a quiet time godsend. I would set my son up with the cd player (which he was well instructed in the careful use of) and he would listen to a certain number of read-alongs, and then was allowed to play quietly until a certain time (usually at least an hour.)

We all need some quiet time during the day.