Possibly Nearing the End

I have been providing home daycare for nearly 4 years, since my son was 1. Well I have had the same crew and they have all grown up together, plus my 2 little ones also born into daycare land. One of whom is still an infant who wakes up throughout the night. So I have 5 dcks, and 3 of my own.
My main stress is that I do not get a break anymore.
The kids range from 4 months - 5.5yrs.
So of the 8 kids, only 3 of them nap. so I usually have 5 up all. freaking. day.
Their ages are: 3 yrs, 4yrs x 3 & 5.5yrs
I am so exhausted by the end of every day I am starting to lose it.
I so badly miss 'naptime'. When all the kids would sleep and I would get a couple hours of peace and quiet to myself and to my housework etc.
In Sept I am not planning on taking new kids just yet. I think I need to cool off and start fresh with a new group of infants/toddlers who nap so I can continue to enjoy what I do.
I know there are pros and cons of having mixed group or a group the same aged, what are your thoughts?

Enforce a rest period. Give the oldest a nap bag with quiet activities, a quiet place (away from you) where they must stay until rest period is over.

I would enforce a mandatory lie down for the others. At least 30 mins, if they are still up after that, quiet activities. If they don't stay quiet, back to the mat.

This is what I do with my group. Kids don't have to sleep, but they do have to rest. A daycare day is long and their bodies need that recharge time. I call it 'rest' time with them and we talk about getting a good rest so we have lots of energy to play after. They will lie quietly for 1 hr with quiet activities, then they can get up and play quietly until my nappers are awake.

You need a recharge in there, too. I actually prefer older kids. My group right now is all btwn 2-3 and I love it.

Yes, you must enforce quiet time with all the kids so you're sane to look after them. I currently have one who is a January birth kid, so he's almost 4.5 and off to JK in Sept. Plus he's very tall and mature, but i insist he has rest time for an hour. I have a little foam mattress for each of the older dcks cut to the size of a crib mattress which I've sewed a simple cover over, and then I put a crib sheet over to be able to wash. They get 2 or 3 books and i tell them "Have a good rest and I'll come back when quiet time is over. I'm going to have a rest too." Has worked so far. When quiet time is done, i just stand the foam mattresses on their sides in the corner. Good luck!

Oh yes, you need to enforce rest time, even if they don't sleep. You deserve a break! I have 3 almost 4 yrs olds (4 if you count my own) and they all MUST lay on their beds in another room quietly and watch a movie (with the lights out). They are not allowed to talk, and if they are disruptive then they are moved to another room to lay down and miss out on the movie. This gives you a good 1 1/2 hrs to relax :)

Oh no, you must be feeling so burnt out and exhausted! YES, the ladies are right, you must take a break during the day and naptime is the only opportunity. Every one in every other walk of life gets daily breaks and a lunch hour but we don't get that. So implement all their tips and get some rest in the middle of the day. Because we all know that we are not finished our days when the daycare children go home.

Yikes !! That's a long day and a busy one !! I give all you dhp with more than one child credit !!! After looking after dck all day it's hard enough looking after my only dd !!
I agree with the other ladies , I do quiet time with my dcb who is 5 . That's the only time the tv is on so he quite likes to sit and veg !!

Oh I feel you! I have 3 of my own as well (5.5, 4.5 and 18 months) though thankfully the older 2 are in school. I am dreading this summer...
I also have 4 dck's currently: 5.5 yr-old in school then 3 full-time: 2 almost 4-yr-olds and a 2-yr-old, along with my own 18-month-old of course. The 2 that are almost 4 are both fairly new, and both gave up naps long before they came to me. We have slowly been getting better at quiet time, but I am definitely looking for kids under 2 when September comes, as one of the 4-yr-olds is leaving and the other is starting jk and so will only be here b/a school.

I know a lot of providers like having a range of ages, and I do to some extent, but given the choice I would much prefer a house full of babies. They may be difficult, and things may take longer to accomplish, but I am soooo done with the no-napping and the talking back and the fighting and the getting-"bored"-every-5-seconds. Give me a bunch of babies that are happy chilling on the floor playing and then nap for 2 hours a day. No more three-year-olds! Lol

Good luck with the quiet time, it's easy to say but much harder to enforce! Frankly, if it helps, go with a movie. Like Secondtimearound, that's the only time TV is on in my house too, so it helps a bit...for like 20 minutes! :)

Agree with the others. A rest time for non nappers is needed. I once had a mom ask if her daughter could not nap anymore and I said yes as she was getting older (3.5). At first I just brought her upstairs with me and she watched tv, did puzzles, coloured, read books and I ate my lunch and than took some time to go online or just do whatever. However, shortly after I incorporated a mandatory rest period of 30 minutes. She would lay on a cot downstairs for that time while I came upstairs and ate. Than I would go and get her (if she hadn't fallen asleep) and she would come upstairs to do the quiet activities while I still enjoyed my break.

We don't get set breaks unless all the kids are down at the same time. I don't think a 2.5 hour kid free break is needed (but it is nice!!) and I don't think it would be easy to contain an awake child for that long so that is why I went with 30 minutes. Pick a length of time that suits you and tell the parents that they will be resting during this time so that you can get a break as well. Good luck!!

I have an older group - 2 two year olds, 3 four year olds, a 5.5 year old (that is only in school every other day) and an 8 year old. I enforce a mandatory quiet time and I don't have any trouble with getting my own 2 hours of quiet time every day. I have the older ones lay down for awhile and if any are still awake after about 40 minutes I let them watch a cartoon until the younger ones wake from their nap.

We have a strong routine of them picking books to "read" on their sleep mats, then after they are done reading they lay down and close their eyes. They know not to talk or play until I come to get them. Most of the time they all fall asleep (even the 5 year old). I play soft music while they all rest as well, they know they must be quiet while the music is playing.

I have no qualms about letting them watch cartoons during quiet time, as it is usually their only screen time during their day with me and I want to make sure I get a full rest - because as you know your day of caring for kids doesn't end when the daycare kids go home.

I really like having older kids, the freedom of only 1 nap a day and their ability to really play with each other and keep each other busy. I make sure their mornings are active and busy so that they are all ready for a rest after lunch.

Even with my own kids when they were in school and home for the summer it was always a one hour Disney or similar type movie put on with everyone watching and if they balked they were told to close their eyes and sleep then. Point is it wasn't optional to be in one spot for the whole hours basically doing nothing for them either since their bodies needed a break and they needed a break from each other. I had the hour to do what I wanted knowing exactly where everyone was. Then IF they had given me a chance to get done what I needed to do - ie not have to stop and constantly be on their case, we would then play a board game or something only the big kids could do. Anyone up to and including kindergarten had to rest but over that they were allowed up. Sometimes I would put their mats in the tv room and they had to rest for half an hour and then I would put the tv on if they had rested. That way I got nearly the full two hours.

All the kids rest on their cots here. They are allowed to read while on their cots. If after an hour they laid quietly and rested they get to play a Leapster in their cot with head phones on so not to wake the sleepers. I bought the Leapsters and games on Kijiji for super cheap as they are older models. I do not go down at all during nap and they know the drill by now. My nap time is 2.5 hrs too.

I have a rule at my house that if you're not in school, you go down for quiet time. I don't care if you are 1 or 4 yrs., you have to at least lie down for quiet time and if you don't want to sleep, you can watch a movie, it's their choice.

I need that break in the afternoon to eat my own lunch, clean up, answer emails, or make phone calls. And the kids need it as well. I've had parents come with 2 or 3 yr. olds saying that their kids has gotten out of napping. I just say, "I'm sorry but if they are here, they have to have at least a rest time in the afternoon, no matter what. Usually it's those same kids that end up falling asleep anyway, lol.