In my opinion, as an adult, you either nap or you don’t. My husband and I fall into the first category and consider them key to success in life. We have three, very early risers and because of this, naps help us function. And to be honest, we’d nap regardless.
My son recently turned four and his first order of business was to stop napping. I am in complete denial. I’ll admit, nap time hasn’t always come easy for my strong-willed, determined oldest child. Many afternoons he tested me to a battle of wills as he adamantly protested his daily snooze. Mostly, I won and the day would proceed peacefully. Other days I begrudgingly retreated and counted down the hours until bedtime.
I’ve never been a “get it done at nap time” kind of mom. (Kudos to all of you who are!) I take full advantage of the opportunity to do absolutely nothing while my parental responsibility is at its daily low. (READ: During my kids’ nap time, I always nap.) I took the “sleep while your baby sleeps” advice very seriously and carried it over into the toddler and preschool years. Perhaps I wouldn’t consider this afternoon rest so important if my children actually slept at night and got up later than 6 am. But that’s an entirely different post, I digress.
When I became pregnant with my second, this coveted afternoon sleep time became even more sacred. Mama desperately needed my mid-day rest, therefore my son’s nap was going to happen whether he liked it or not. Once little brother came along though, coinciding naps were few and far between. I tried to make it happen but the inevitable car naps to and from preschool always foiled my baby’s routine. I often found myself frustrated, short-tempered and sometimes even upset with my kids when mama bear didn’t get her afternoon nap. That’s when a dear friend shared some wise words with me. “Don’t plan on a nap, but if you get one, count it a bonus!”
I took this advice to heart and moved forward following this philosophy. It helped my attitude and daily outlook but admittedly, once the baby was old enough to condense to one long afternoon nap, my eye was back on the prize – getting my daily snooze back! It was also about the time when I discovered I was expecting my third child. And since my one year old still wasn’t sleeping through the night, naps were my savior!
As my oldest turned four, I knew the inevitable was on the horizon as his afternoon naps began to dwindle. Another friend gave me the suggestion of transitioning his nap time to a rest period. This has worked really well and kept us all sane. As the oldest (with younger siblings 2 and 2 months), I was desperate to find a solution to help give him (and me) an afternoon recharge. We still do the nap time routine and he lays down in his bed. Some days he sleeps and other days he just rests in his bed and looks at books. Regardless though, during this time you can find me snuggled up in my own bed catching up on some much-needed rest. All the kids are nestled in their beds and we all experience some relaxing moments of peace and quiet.
Just as babies don’t keep, I realize nap and rest time won’t last forever. I hope one day my children appreciate naps as much as their parents do. Long live naps!
How old were your children when they stopped napping?
My 4.25 year old is still napping 90% of the time. He knows he has to stay in his bed until the Stoplight clock turns green, so if he doesn’t sleep, he will stay there (mostly) quietly. On the days that I do decide to lay down during nap, my 2 year old inevitably takes a short nap that day. She’s also recently take to waking before 6 am…today, 4:40 am, and it’ll be a fight to keep her awake until after lunch for naptime. I keep telling myself to not stay up until midnight, but that’s when I get my work done. So I’ll be napping today. Here’s to good afternoon naps!
Comments are closed.