My daughter started preschool a few weks ago. She loves it, until it's nap time. At her school, you can take a nap or have quiet time. Her teacher closes the curtains from 1 to 3, at which time my daughter goes nuts. She starts crying and screaming, "I don't want a nap!!!" When the teacher tells her, she doesn't have to nap, she screams, "Open the curtains!". This goes on everyday, until she almost collapses and falls asleep. I don't know why this happens; she's not afraid of the dark. My husband and i have tried to talk to her, to no avail. Does anyone have any ideas? I'd be so grateful for some help! Thanks!!!
Maybe there is something about preschool that doesn't make her feel "safe" to sleep? Perhaps have her pick out a special blanket or stuffed animal that she can share quiet time with?
Maybe she's just having too much fun to stop playing cab she be rewarded with something afterwards if she takes a nap (or sits quietly) without the drama. A special play time with a special game or toy or ?
Good luck!
Good advice here. A few other thoughts... Does her preschool have a set up where you can go and observe without her knowing you are there? That way you might be able to see some things that your daughter or the teacher could do differently.
How dark is the room? In my own personal opinion, it should be dimmed but not dark. Some centers no longer darken a room at all because of fears of accusations of improper touching during naptime (by teachers or other children). I like a room where the light is subdued to allow for better sleeping, yet light enough that anyone coming in can easily see all the people in there and would be able to detect any impropriety that might be occuring if there was such going on.
Most children of this age don't like to settle down, and would rather be going full blast all day long. They are also at an age where they are trying to exert their own independence, and most of them seem to think they are 'all growed up' and can do anything they want on their own ("I don't need an adult telling me what to do, 'cause I can do it by myself"). This is a good stage for the development of the child, but difficult for us as adults to cope with. My own granddaughter is currently sleeping at the end of my hall on the floor, because she was going through the don't want to sleep routing today. When she kept being disruptive to the other four children in my care, I moved her cot into the hall so she could play without disturbing them. She decided she'd show me by sleeping on the floor... and that's where she is at the moment. It won't hurt her to sleep on the clean carpet, and she is getting the sleep I knew she needed, but she wouldn't admit to needing. I'm sure your daughter's preschool teacher doesn't have the freedom to allow that drastic a solution, but she might have a place to move your daughter where she could be more active on her cot without disturbing the other children. Sometimes there is a shelf unit dividing a room and one child could be located on a side of it away from most of the other children, yet where the teacher can easily observe her, and given books or soft toys that she can play with on the cot.
Does your daughter have a regular nap routine at home? If so, is it at approximately the same time as the one at daycare? This is sometimes a help to the child because it's difficult to have one routine at daycare and a very different one on the days she is at home.
I do agree with the person who mentioned she might not have had enough activity before naptime. We try to get our kids outside in the morning for a lot of hard running and playing. Just before bringing them in for lunch we have them race to the fence and back three or four times just to be sure they've run hard and tired themselves out. Centers often have to have classes share playgrounds, and have limited time frames... and of course some classes will have their outdoor times earlier in the morning in these cases. If that's a problem, perhaps you can help suggest some ideas for the teacher to do some really active indoor activities, like some jazzy music to get the kids dancing around the room, or an appropriate active indoor game. If the program is concentrating on more of the "seatwork" or 'paperwork' type of activities, you might want to suggest that they consider adding more active games... most children learn better through those anyway if they are used in conjunction with the concepts the school is trying to teach.
Preschool is big stimulation for little kids and sometimes it's really hard to make the transition to quiet time. Does your daughter have trouble making transitions in general? Maybe you can talk to the teacher about giving her more notice about the nap time coming especially if the nap time routine is loose.
Does your daughter take naps at home (one weekends?) Do you have a certain routine you follow that could somehow be incorporated?
You might also do some role play at home with her and "play" prechool to see if that provides any insight. Pretend play in a safe environment can sometimes really help work through issues and fears about the real thing. Kids can open up during play in ways they can't when you simply talk about it.
Good luck!
It sounds like she needs to burn off a bit more energy before taking a nap. Having a little fit is one way to go about it. Ask the teachers if they can run her around a bit more before nap/quiet time and see if that makes a difference.
Tell them to give her something to do during nap time.
Can you send her with a special stuffed animal to help her through?
Why can't the teacher just open the curtains? Your daughter might just feel trapped. Once she falls asleep the teacher could close them.
Hi L.!
Only you know if she's afraid of the dark, but kids do develope that around 4ish, so it could be a new fear. She probably should rest by the window for the light.
Does she like Pre-school? Because if she keeps misbehaving when it's time to rest, then she may not be allowed to keep coming............
She's still pretty young to reason with, but she is definitely capable of understanding the difference between right & wrong behavior. Maybe she doesn't want to be at Pre-school for her nap/rest, and thinks if she acts out then she'll get to go home.
I didn't have any advice really, just a "thought process". I'm sorry I couldn't have helped more :o)
~N.
Go and observe her at this time and see if you can determine what is causing the outburst. Something has to be triggering it. The only way to find out is to watch the interactions between her and the teacher, her and her classmates and the way she is put down for her nap, quiet time. Good Luck.
