OK mamas. At what age did you let your kids drop their 1 nap. I have a 4 yo boy, who instead of sleeping he plays. I fight with him to take his nap. Is he getting too old for naps?
We have decided that he will have a "rest" time with the light off. He shares a room with his 2 year old sister until the baby is old enough to share a room with the 2 year old.
That is happening to me too and I have a 2.5 year old daughter. She just refuses to take her afternoon nap. Honestly I think I am okay with it because she falls asleep faster and earlier at bedtime and it is less of a fight at that time as well. Hope this helps.
Could be that there is a bit of a power struggle going on as well. And some kids just do not need the extra sleep. As long as he is not cranky by evening time, he should be fine.
Perhaps instead of fighting him to take a nap set up rest time: set a timer for 30 minutes, put on some soft music in his room or let him get out a special sleeping bag to put on the floor just for "rest time". Explain to him that he needs to rest so he has plenty of energy to play the rest of the day, tell him he does not have to sleep but rest (which is being still for a little while) and he can read a favorite book or just listen to the music... but he has to stay there until the timer goes off, then he can get up and play. He may or may not fall asleep.
Also may want to add some heavy duty play time in the early afternoon.
It's different for each child. My boys are sleepers, so they needed naps longer than most. My oldest napped on the weekends until he was 6, and would have napped in school if they would have let him. My youngest is now 5, in kindergarten, and he still takes a 2-3 hour nap on the weekends. During the summer he didn't nap every day, but he napped at least 4 days a week. If your son doesn't need naps, I wouldn't fight it, but if he's cranky without naps, I would try to get him to rest. By the end of the week without naps, my youngest is absolutely exhausted, and he goes to bed every night between 6:45 and 7:00. He just needs a lot of sleep. I do too, though. Good luck!
Quiet time is all you can hope for now. My kids never sleep in the daytime past their 3rd birthday unless they are running fever or we have had an extraordinarily busy and late couple of days. I put on a CD that lasts about an hour. When the music goes off, the kid can come out of their room. As long as they stay in there and are not destroying anything, it's a successful quiet time. If they come out too soon, quiet time gets longer in intervals of about 10 minutes. They should be able to go to the bathroom totally independently without bothering you. The point now is that YOU need an hour off. That is a perfectly reasonable need, and you should explain to your child that Mommy needs quiet time too, particularly with your other 2 younger kids.
Good luck,
S. (SAHM of 3)
My oldest stopped taking his naps at 3 but I did make him lay down in his room. He could read and do quiet things. He wouldn't nap though.
He is 4 and just now dropping his nap, you are lucky. My son is almost three and has not been napping for 8 months or so. I do make him go in his room for rest/alone time.
About 4 years old is when my twins dropped their nap. They still had to have "rest time" in their rooms, but as long as they played quietly, then rest time would only last an hour. If they were noisy or throwing fits about having to stay in their rooms, then rest time would last a lot longer. If we had a really busy day, though, they usually would fall asleep, but days they weren't very tired, they just played by themselves, so it still gave me some time to myself:)
My daughter is 6 and still would love a nap! She takes them on weekends but obviously not in 1st grade as they don't do that at school. Depends on your child. Everyone is different. Is he crabby towards the evening that could mean he needs a short one.
I use to run a very large childcare center. The state recommends and requires a rest time for children through Kindergarten recommending at least an hour of downtime/nap etc. If he wont nap like the previous poster put send him to his room for a quiet time. Reading books, even resting in front of Sprout or something. Remember their small bodies need rest to recooperate!
HTH
E.
Mine dropped his a little before he turned 3. Most of his friends lost theirs around the same time or even earlier. If he's playing quietly (or even not so quietly) by himself without running to you every 5 minutes and giving you a break, enjoy it.
Each child has different sleep patterns. Since you have three, I am sure you see the differences. My oldest was never a big napper so by the time he was 4, he really did not nap so your child may be done napping. I even see it today (my son is almost 12) and does not require much sleep. He gets up with ease every morning and can stay awake longer than the average child.
great question! i have an almost 3 year old that sometimes does the same thing. i still put her in bed and have her "rest". however, she ends up playing books for two hours. when i taught at a daycare in college; the 4 year old class still offered naps. i would still offer it; however, maybe not expect him to take it everytime. if my daughter ends up not taking a nap, we put her to bed 30 minutes earlier or so. good luck!
