Nap Time
I have known many, many parents whose children stop napping when they are very young.
“Oh”, they say, “Jr. just didn’t want to nap anymore, so I figured that he didn’t need a nap anymore.”
Umm - no.
Children need much more sleep than adults do. Children who are between the ages of 2 and 5 need to have at least 12 hours of sleep. But like most parents, some kids need more sleep, but none should have less than 12 hours.
So what do you do if your child says that they don’t want to nap? Well, you make them. You can’t MAKE your child nap, but you can make sure that you are strict about their napping time. For instance, instead of just saying, “oh, Jr. doesn’t want to nap”, explain to your child why he has to nap. Tell him that even if he doesn’t sleep, he has to stay in bed. If he gets up, put him back in bed.
My daughter, Babygirl, will be 4 in a few months. When my son was her age, he still needed sleep for naptime. My daughter, however, has stopped napping. She now, however, has rest time. She gets to choose two or three books and a stuffed animal or two and takes them into my bed. I turn the television on low and - guess what? Half of the time, she sleeps!
Instead of just automatically saying that your child doesn’t need naps, re-evaluate the situation. How much sleep is he getting during bedtime? How often does he seem tired and irritable? I always say that you should fight only the battles that are important, and this is definitely one that is, as children who are extremely tired can have huge outbursts.
February 13th, 2008 at 8:29 am
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