Hellobee Boards

for awhile my daughter would stay in bed and look at books, and occasionally fall asleep- but, she's a rule follower in general.
on days where she had a hard time we locked her door from the outside and turned on a monitor so she could ask for things if she needed help/to go to the bathroom/etc.

you could also try some special toys that only come out at quiet time. sometimes my daughter listens to audio stories during her quiet time, but I try not to do this every day because I think its most restful/restorative for her to just play by herself.

I think you just have to make it something you do, everyday. Its bumpy at first but once they understand its just part of the daily routine it cna get easier.

What seemed to work for us, for just putting him down for his nap but telling him it was also okay if he played quietly in his room. He'd lay down, but then when we left, just get up and play. While he was transitioning to no-nap, he'd sometimes play for a little bit and then lay down and nap, and other times just play until we told him nap time was over. We've been starting the same thing with my younger now too. He can play in his room quietly during nap time if he's not tired - often he'll still just fall asleep right on the floor wherever he's playing! But sometimes he'll skip the nap. As long as they are quiet in their rooms, I'm happy!

We also said you don’t have to sleep but you have to play quietly. My girl is not a rule follower, at all, but it’s worked ok. I started out giving her special quiet toys specifically during quiet time, like a little Melissa and Doug doll house. And we have the ok to wake clock. I also started the clock a little shorter than I really wanted her to stay in so she could have success right away then lengthened it to a full hour. She sometimes gets a prize or a sticker if she stays in the whole time.

She’s 4.5 and still does an hour of quiet time while sister naps. She’ll come out to go potty and sometimes goes and gets different toys from our playroom (down the hall from her bedroom) but as long as she is quiet and leaves me alone I’m ok with it.

@bhbee: we definitely had these unpredictable times of napping/not napping with DD. He may not need it every day but more days than not out of the week. We used to give it an hour and then bail, but I remember days where she would fall asleep just before the hour mark.

I just tried to push bedtime up on the days that didn’t get a nap and it was workable.

@bhbee: @PinkElephant: my 6 yo is in kinder and managed without quiet time during the week but we still do it on weekends/holidays. We also start bedtime routine before 7 with the goal of her being asleep before 8 partly because the school schedule is earlier. It has worked well for us.

@PinkElephant: we do quiet time during the 2 year olds nap time, which is around 1:30. She can skip it for special occasions but if we are home I enforce it.

@bhbee: as she was dropping her nap I would put the toys in bed with her. She would sometimes play the whole time, sometimes fall asleep with a toy in her hand. Even now she very rarely will actually nap. I often expect to find her passed out in the floor with her toys but she climbs up into bed when she’s that tired. But those nights bedtime is usually rough.