Since this child is a little older my approach of how to handle the situation will be a little more "hard core" than it would be for a younger child - my feeling is that by the time a child is two and a half they are perfectly old enough to understand the idea of quiet time. First, you need to master an "I mean business face/body language" The first time that this child makes a peep of noise, you march into the nursery and make sure he understands that this stuff is not going to fly. No soft clucking and fussing, no asking him what's wrong. He's old enough for you to let him know that he's doing something very wrong - my phrase is "We don't make noise during naptime " Put him back in his bed, firmly tell him to stop making noise, and leave him there. If he proceeds to cry, and if he doesn't stop yowling in a reasonable amount of time (and be prepared to wait what will seem like a long time - these kind of kids can be stubborn) take him out of his crib and tell him that if he can't rest quietly in his bed, then he won't have that priviledge - sit him on a mat (I call it our naughty spot) There's no chatting or eye contact - you're trying to make him understand that he can have his quiet time in a comfty crib with his own bedding and cuddle toys, or he can spend the entire quiet time sitting on the floor - his choice to make. The first time that you have to do this there will be no quiet time for you that day. Sorry ! But the next day should be better - I've never had a kid take longer than a couple of days to "get it" I've had a couple of kids over the years who were absolute brats when it came to nap time. I'm not a harsh person by nature, but I found when I cut out the soft touch stuff they got the picture PDQ and went the heck to sleep.