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What's really frustrating is that the parents ACTUALLY think eliminating a daytime nap will make bedtime earlier and easier!! It will do the exact opposite in a 2-year-old. After going all day and not taking a rest, she's going to be over-tired and exhausted, and way too wired to go to sleep at 6/7...she's going to be up till at least 8/9 anyways. I love it when parents of small children think this. On the surface, sure, I see how they come up with it, but don't they see what happens to their child when she misses her nap on the weekends? Do they not make the connection between missed naps and hell at bedtime?
The vast majority of 2-year-olds still definitely need a nap. You could try to explain this to the parents, but I doubt they'll listen. I had a 3-year-old with serious behaviour issues to begin with, who the parents said hadn't napped in a year and a half. After a few weeks, I changed "quiet playtime" to "quiet rest time," and laid her down on the couch downstairs with a book and some stuffies and a blanket. Nine times out of ten, she'd be asleep in seconds. Most definitely still needed a nap. The behaviour difference was crazy, so much so that the parents started commenting on how much easier she was to go to bed. They never quite knew just how long she was napping here, but you can't force a child to fall asleep - if they fall asleep on their own in 2 minutes and go to bed easier and earlier, it's a win-win, and they obviously need the rest.
I'd enforce a "quiet time" at least, and quiet time can very easily include having to lie down and read books for at least half an hour. If they're still awake after that, they can play quietly. Chances are, she'll sleep, and parents may be mollified if they hear "quiet time" vs "nap time."
All kids must nap here until age 3. My daughter quit napping at 3 but all other kids kept napping until aged 4. I even quit napping a 5 year old this summer so that she could be ready for kindergarten (and she never slept anyways) and her mom didn't want me to! LOL
I would tell the parents that she must lay down for one hour. If she falls asleep then you will not be waking her up. If she is awake then you will get her up and she can watch tv/look at books/do puzzles for the second hour but must be quiet.
This is your home and your rules. There is nothing wrong with a child going to bed at 8pm. My daughter has always been in bed at 8. I never understood how anyone could put their child to bed at 6 or 7.
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Originally Posted by mickyc
There is nothing wrong with a 7:00 bedtime. My son refused to nap when he was in centre care as it was a horrible sleep environment with up to 20 toddlers in a nap room and a few that would not settle, not to mention the amount of staff that would come in and out and the loud nap music they played. It was horrible. by the time we got home at 6:30 he was begging for bed. I fed him dinner on the bus every evening on the way home and breakfast every morning on the way there. At best he got 10-12 hours in a 24 hr period. not much for a baby. Now that we are home he sleeps 8-8 and naps 12-2. Some children do need a 7:00 or even 6:30 bedtime, especially if they have to be up by 5:30 the next morning and have difficulty sleeping anywhere but their own bed....
Each child is different and some may need an earlier bedtime but if a child is not needing a nap at a home daycare at 2 years old then instead of cutting out naps the parents should be possibly pushing back bedtime first before they quit giving naps.
Centre-based daycares would give the parents ZERO say in whether a 2yr old gets a nap or not. There is a mandatory nap period at that age...typically until the children are old enough for the kinder program which is closer to 4yrs.
If the child is awake after a set quiet, lying on the cot, period the centre based daycares will allow them to go do puzzles but there is a mandatory silent lie down period.
The Days Nurseries Act does require this...I don't recall the exact details for each age but nap and quiet time is required for all age groups.
If a child falls asleep within a few minutes of lying down they NEED that sleep...it is crucial on so many levels especially for brain development and behavior. Refusing to let a 2 year old nap to make an adults life easier is selfish.
I live with two schedules in my daycare. All the daycare kids must nap. My 2 1/2 yr old will not nap anymore. I have tried!!!! so, now I have cuddle time with her while others are sleeping. I'm truly counting down this she is in school so I can have a break ;) but man will I miss her. Anyway. My rule is children (daycare) must nap up till the age of 3 1/2 or 4. Most children do need that time to relax.
I now have 4 children that are 4 years old and 1 that is 3 1/2 so only one naps. I don't know what I'm going to do if I get one or two babies.
That's the problem I've had this summer, daycaremom9. My own older kids are 5 and 6, plus I have a 6yrold dcb and a 4yrold dcg who is about to start school, and obviously none of them nap. Then I have my own almost 2yrold and my 2yrold dcb, who obviously do. My daycare is usually TV-free, but I've had to institute "quiet time" with a movie after lunch. The big kids go to the basement playroom and the little ones go upstairs to sleep in our family bedrooms, leaving the main floor in between them. It usually works, in that the kids are distracted by the movie long enough to let the little ones fall asleep, and once they start to get wiggly the little ones are already down, with air conditioners and fans all running upstairs to help provide white noise. Then I spend 2 hours trying to keep the older ones quiet, and hopefully squeezing in a break for me to clean up, have lunch, and maybe sit down for 5 minutes. They can't do craft time or playdoh either, since they would have to come up to the kitchen to do that, and even things like that end up being too loud with that many older kids.
I cannot WAIT until school starts, when I start 2 new 2-year-olds. Me and 4 2-year-olds, all of whom nap for 2 hours every afternoon! Glorious!!
I have also decided that I am not taking any more 3-year-olds until this group are all 3. By 3, most have phased out a nap, and I am left with one older kid awake during naptime, and my only break disappears. I don't like accepting 3-year-olds for a number of reasons, but the absence of naptime is a major one!