My daughter starting JK question

Hi Ladies,

I am hoping some of you on here have some suggestions and support. My daughter is starting JK in a few weeks. She is ready, she turned 4 in march she is social and I fully expect she will run in and never look back.

She sleeps a LOT and I am not quite sure the best plan for prepping her for school in regards to sleep. There is no way ever she will nap in JK. This child has yet to nap in a car, stroller or any where that she could possibly miss something. Even as an infant. She is however an amazing sleeper, in a bed away from the action.

She currently sleeps 14hrs a night. Typically 6pm-8am. When up later she pretty much just shifts and wakes 14hrs later (even if that is at 12noon). Awesome when for a stay at home child...not so awesome when she needs to be at the bus stop for 8am.

I literally start our suppers at 4:30 these days, when the DC kids leave at 5:15 she goes up for bed routine. But once she is in school I just don't see it being possible to have her in bed that early. I definately can't see having her in bed (asleep) by 5pm to allow her the 14hrs sleep she likes.

So, next week I will begin setting her alarm clock for 7am and having her get up, make bed, get dressed, eat and all that and be ready to be at the bus stop for 8am. To have her practiced and in routine for that.

Am I best to also have her stay up until a reasonable time so she is used to getting less sleep now before she starts? I expect we can have her in bed for 6:30 once she is in school. Or should I have her in bed for 5pm now while I am home with her and then just change that once she is in school?

Suggestions? She really doesn't do that well with less sleep, I notice signs of overtiredness pretty quick when we interfere with her 14hrs. But, she really will have to learn to make do with less :-(

Oh, I cut out naps about 5 months ago when she was able to make it without and she just moved her 2 hr nap time to her usual night sleep and hasn't adjusted to less sleep since.

I would definitely start waking her for the time she needs to be up for school. I wouldn't force her to stay up late though. Some days she might be played out and fall asleep at supper, or on the ride home from school. Other days she might get a second wind and make it til bedtime. The consistent waking time (7 days a week til she's used to it), should reset her body's rhythm, and hopefully the evening will take care of itself as she adapts and grows.

You didn't mention any-but if she does extracurriculars, I'd avoid any after school classes for the fall.

Yes, having her practice the correct wake up time for school is great. I often tell my clients to start practicing for school starts at least 3-4 weeks before needed, as we all seem to get off schedule in the summer.
She'll be exhausted once school starts, so I'm sure she'll let you know it is time for bed.

Hi, it also depends on her classroon ruling, in a meeting with some school jk sk Ece's we briefly touch this situation (naps), most children are encouraged to at least lie down and unwind so they can continue their afternoon. Also, it is encouraged to nap because the educators also need their lunch break time, when children lie down or nap it is required less supervision and the educators can take turns while taking their break time, if she is going to a after school program daycare administrated by a centre pretty much that is also the norm.

I was also surprised to learn that when most children are done with their nap time (around 3 to 4 years old); some schools put them back to nap schedules. I have heard some parents complaint about that, children taking long time to go sleep at night.

Your daughter might not be ready to nap with you at your house but in school there is a lot peer pressure and many rules to follow. I would suggest you to keep a close communication with her teachers. If she doesn't nap in the school then most likely she will go bed really earlier, some parents in that case decide to pick up their child early from school.

The wake up time should be worked transitioning slowly as suggested in the message above.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peacefulbird

Hi, it also depends on her classroon ruling, in a meeting with some school jk sk Ece's we briefly touch this situation (naps), most children are encouraged to at least lie down and unwind so they can continue their afternoon. Also, it is encouraged to nap because the educators also need their lunch break time, when children lie down or nap it is required less supervision and the educators can take turns while taking their break time, if she is going to a after school program daycare administrated by a centre pretty much that is also the norm.

I was also surprised to learn that when most children are done with their nap time (around 3 to 4 years old); some schools put them back to nap schedules. I have heard some parents complaint about that, children taking long time to go sleep at night.

Your daughter might not be ready to nap with you at your house but in school there is a lot peer pressure and many rules to follow. I would suggest you to keep a close communication with her teachers. If she doesn't nap in the school then most likely she will go bed really earlier, some parents in that case decide to pick up their child early from school.

The wake up time should be worked transitioning slowly as suggested in the message above.

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If they can get her to nap at school all the power to them. I have NO problem with that. She still naps with no fuss at home when we know we need to have her up later in the evening. She doesn't resist and easily naps. But, any sleep in the day and she is up until 9:30/10pm that night. We can still put her to bed around 8pm and she happily lies in bed singing and talking to herself. So we prefer to try and be without the nap as it means better sleep for her and she doesn't have a late afternoon lull at all (she is just asleep for 6pm).

I would be all good with a nap at school but I truly do not think it can happen. Even as an infant she just can't bring herself to shut down and sleep when there are people around etc. She will happily lie on a mat and rest quietly when told to...but sleep likely won't come.

I don't believe her school forces it from what I have heard so far.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kindredspirit

I would definitely start waking her for the time she needs to be up for school. I wouldn't force her to stay up late though. Some days she might be played out and fall asleep at supper, or on the ride home from school. Other days she might get a second wind and make it til bedtime. The consistent waking time (7 days a week til she's used to it), should reset her body's rhythm, and hopefully the evening will take care of itself as she adapts and grows.

You didn't mention any-but if she does extracurriculars, I'd avoid any after school classes for the fall.

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She currently does 2 extra curriculars a week. We have planned one to be at 4:30-5pm so it should be ok. The other one is later (depending on whether she advances to the next level it may even be from 6:30-8pm). If this is the case I will get her off the bus at 3:20 and nap her, feed her and send her. It is for Irish dancing which she has been doing for a year now. She loves it and it is VERY good for her as it is very structured and very disciplined so we will stick with it making sure she is rested up before going. Other than that she will just come home off the bus at 3:25 and be home with myself or my husband so no demands on her.

I just don't like the idea of waking her, sending her to school, getting her off the bus feeding her and putting her to bed. We'll never see her. She's been home with me (with some DC children) so this will be such a huge change.

I am really hoping that she soon shifts to needing less sleep. She is 4.5yrs old...14 hrs is a lot. Even 13hrs would be nice!

She has never fallen asleep at the table or in the car. But then again she has never been sleep deprived enough to need to as I have always been VERY big on making sure she gets enough sleep.

We will begin the early wake ups this Monday which will give her 3 + weeks of practice for that. We'll for the most part follow her lead for getting her down early. Rather than trying to keep her up for a more feasible bedtime (7pm). But it is so hard. Even her 6pm bedtime right now has us eating supper at 4:30. My husband keeps laughing that we are worse than his grandparents for eating so early. It also means we do nothing with her in the evenings at all. My husband comes home from work early to eat and get her to bed (the only time he sees her) then he goes back to work in the home office to make up for his shortened day! It's a weird life lol.