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Leigh 08:24 AM 06-12-2013
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
Hmm, this is a little disappointing to hear. Especially the comment from the daycare provider about not working with the parent to tweak the nap schedule in order to assist the parents at night (except she was much more blunt in saying "I'm not going to change what I'm doing to make it easier on the parents during the evening!"). Obviously working parents need the support of daycare providers and the approach to child care should be partnered and lock-step. While I totally get that daycare providers need a break, what they fail to realize is that they can sometimes be putting their own needs above the needs of the child. As a parent who has a child in daycare, I completely understand the need for my daycare provider to get a break during the day and that this usually happens at nap time. What they may fail to understand is that every child is different. While my oldest napped daily until four years old and still went to bed and woke at a decent hour, my youngest needs much less sleep and his schedule needs to be tweaked to accommodate his developmental changes. When my youngest naps too long during the day, he ends up falling asleep much later that night, then waking during the night and waking very early. Because of this, he is missing sleep and then needs to catch up on that sleep during the day where he takes an even longer nap (which daycare is all too happy to allow) thus making he fall asleep even later and wake even later and on and on. It becomes a vicious cycle. I think that comment about "well if the child is sleeping then he NEEDS a nap" is a total cop-out and is very short-sighted. Yes, in the moment, given everything else that is going on, yes, in that moment he needs a nap. But if his naps were to be tweaked somewhat, he'd have an easier time falling asleep and staying asleep and would get the total number of hours that he needs. This isn't about making it easier for the daycare provider during the day or easier for the parent in the evenings, it's about making sure that the child is well rested and has a schedule that suits them. Maybe this means capping the nap, or skipping it every other day until a new routine is established. This unwillingness to work together with the parent and instead get very defensive and only think about how this change may affect the daycare provider is extremely disappointing and selfish on the part of the daycare provider. Enough so that I will be switching my daycare provider in the next month. Hopefully there are providers out there who really do care about the child's needs and not their daily "break".
The providers are not out to get their "daily break". They standardize nap time to benefit ALL of the children in their care, not just one of them. Naptime is standardized for ALL kids because it would be chaos to have parents dictate that this kid naps at 9, this one at 11, this one at 12:30, etc. They must all nap at the SAME time, or none of them are ABLE to nap. Believe me, this is exactly how it happens. Selfish is to expect your provider to change their entire program and how it has worked for years to accommodate your wants. Put your child to bed at bedtime, and your child will learn to sleep.
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