My oldest is almost 4 and she doesn't nap anymore, but I do make her rest. I always have her watch a show or a movie or let her play my laptop or phone. I didn't really put much thought into it since my main goal was to get some quiet time in. Does your LO rest without electronics? Like reading books or doing other quiet activities? If so, how do you do it?!
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Yes. He has quiet bins with small activities (fine motor, sorting, etc). He can do anything in his room as well, and often chooses to look at books. He isn't very successful unless I sit outside his room, but it gives me the opportunity to work a bit or just mess on my computer. The bins add some novelty, since they have activities he doesn't get to do at other times.
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Mine will. I try not to resort to electronics very often. Both of my LOs will "read" books by themselves or play quietly (usually puzzles or Legos).
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If I call it rest time and insist that he actually lay down, it's a fight, unless he's sick.
So, instead, I just ask that he play alone, it can be in his room or in the playroom.
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We read two books in bed and then my daughter (3.5) plays with toys on her own for 60-90 minutes in her bedroom. we put babies, magnetic dress up doll, etc in her room, and then switch in toys like her trains or her farm/animals. She does pretty well and by the end of her time usually gets back in bed and looks at books.
It has just taken a lot of consistency to get her there. We started with 45 minutes and slowly increased because she enjoys it and I like the break.Sometimes in the late afternoon she is still very tired and so I put on audio stories (sparkle stories) and she will rest on the couch or play quietly.
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@Jess1483: @lamariniere: @looch: I can barely get her to play alone for a few minutes when it's not rest time! I mean, she does...but when her sister isn't around (AKA napping) it seems like she really depends on me to entertain her.
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@Bao: my daughter definitely got upset when we first started this, but we always do it, right after lunch and she doesn't fight it much anymore. Some days she runs right up like she's excited!
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Yes, I make him play quietly in his room or read books for an hour. He will play with his little tsum tsums for ages on his own so that is a choice. Or if we have new library books he is always excited to read those so will read those alone for a bit. Sometimes I do give screen time instead of making him rest, but try to make it a special thing.
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@Bao: could you try a timer? Start out with 10 or 15 minutes and tell her she has to entertain herself until the timer rings. Maybe once she gets into something, she'll forget about you for a few minutes.
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@Silva: see I have never made her rest in her room, it's always been in the living room where I am near...that's probably not helpful this late in the game!
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Yes. She has a room in the house she goes to for quiet time. She will play with her toys for 2 hours and then she gets "released". Sometimes she asks at 30 minutes in, an hour in, but we make her take the whole 2 hours. Sometimes I'll stay in the room with her and do my things, that seems to make the time go faster for her. We don't talk - she plays quietly by herself.
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DD1 (4.25y) hasn't consistently napped in about a year. She usually gets one short show while I put DD2 down for her nap, and then she has to go into her room (or, more recently, I've been allowing the playroom since I know she won't actually nap anymore) and play quietly until I come get her. Normally she just plays pretend/made-up games with her dolls and stuffed animals. She's not big on reading on her own (since she can't actually read), but sometimes I'll hear her "reading" to her dolls. I can usually get a solid 60-90 minutes out of her!
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We are working on this now with DD who is 3. She mostly still ends up napping, but since she fights going to sleep initially, I started asking her to have quiet time in her room where she can read or play. I'm hoping she will continue to actually nap, but figured I would start working on the quiet time concept with her now. We are also in the process of creating a reading nook in her room and moving more interesting toys upstairs so I'm hoping that will make her alone time more attractive.
ETA: She has screen time when she wakes up from nap pretty much every day, so I don't want to add more TV just so I (oh, I mean, she
) can get more quiet time.
) can get more quiet time.
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