Yup - quiet time is NOT an option here and it is clearly in my handbook that if you have outgrown REST TIME you have outgrown my program so that I do not have to deal with clients trying to ask me NOT to place their child down for a rest!

I do not care if they SLEEP but for at least an hour proceeding lunch they MUST rest quietly on their cot engaged in REST aka no noisy books with pages turning, no noisy puzzles or fidget toys - a resting body with a resting MIND for at least one hour .. my crew range from 1 - 6 years of age and my school age crew when here still REST and most actually SLEEP still even my son right up until he was 10 years of age when he could 'leave the house' during quiet time for the others and go to the park or library but until then he laid down on his bed in his room and read a book and was QUIET on PD days, March break and summer time just like everyone else was - this is my time to recharge MY battery and even I am often quiet either online network or reading my book or crafting or something

When I was 'new' and trying to get all the new crew on board with this strange concept of RESTING one thing that worked for me was a 'wake up jar' .... the expectation was if everyone 'rested quietly' until nap time was over when we got up we could choose something from the wake up jar to do HOWEVER if I had to keep reminding them to lay down, to rest quietly on their cot, to stop TALKING on their cot and so forth than we could NOT choose something from the jar.... it worked like a charm and within a month everyone was SLEEPING during quiet time cause their bodies who had been 'resisting' nap and so parents though they did not 'need' them and stopped offering quiet time despite their 'obviously tired children' over time they reset their sleep need clocks back to napping and actually for most going to bed 'earlier and easier' because more sleep gets more sleep because an overtired child tends to have a hard time 'relaxing'.

The jar was full of things that took extra work for ME but lots of FUN for them to do and the natural consequence was if they did not REST to give me the TIME to get my chores done than we could not do the FUN stuff and they would just have to SIT with books and puzzles in the afternoon....worked like a charm and eventually I did not NEED the jar anymore because the long term crew TRAINED the younger crew as they joined the program and so forth.

Activities in the jar were MESSY art or sensory ... or getting to do something 'special' that only comes out at quiet time while they WEE BABES are sleeping longer than we rest ... like tiny choker toys and manipulative games and so forth ... the crew LOVES being seen as big enough to engage in these and getting a 'treat' that the under twos do not get to do.