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!