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Unregistered 08:10 PM 03-06-2013
I live in Australia and my 4 1/2 year old son is patted to sleep everyday - much to my disgust..... he is a very active boy and has lots of energy; if he doesnt sleep at day care he is asleep in bed at 7.30-8pm at night and sleeps for a good 12 hours.
I dont believe all centres should have the policy that all children are required to sleep (happy with a rest or quiet time) - its like a one size fits all policy for clothing and it doesnt work.
When my 4 1/2 year old is still awake and hard to settle at 10.30pm at night - then I beg to differ on the sleeping policy. As a parent of 2 children - one who is almost 9 and is constantly getting disturbed by his wide awake brother late at night - then having the difficulty to get them out of bed in the morning as they've had a late night - its a viscious , unhealthy cycle.
I certainly do not think it is rude, selfish or inconsiderate of parent to request for their child not to sleep and some comments in this forum have really hit a nerve. Parents know their children best. My son is at daycare 6-7 hours a day at most, 2 of those hours are sleeping times - which like I said before is encouraged by rocking, patting and soft music - I dont agree at all. Just to appease the lunch roster, get time to do dishes or aleviate staffing issues - surely that cannot be a good enough reason to disrupt the childs sleeping patterns in an evening, which on a regular basis has an effect on a much grander scale in a family.

I wonder when the day care centre closes its doors a the end of the day, that they have any thought for the turmutulous evening faced by a lot of parents whos child has had a lengthy sleep at kindy.
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