Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I am completely shocked that so many people think that if a kid happens to fall asleep while being forced to lie down and stay quiet for 2 hours, he/she MUST need a nap. WRONG. I have 4 1/2 year old triplets who have always woken up on their own between 5:30 and 7am. I can count on one hand the number of times they have slept past 8:00 in their lives. Even when they don't fall asleep until midnight, they wake up by 6-7am. So Laundrymom's idea about waking them up 3 hours earlier? Ummmm...you want me to wake my kids up at 3:30am? Horrible advice.
On daycare days, my kids are up at 6:30am. Their school puts them down at noon for a 2-hour nap that turns into a 3-hour nap. They often don't fall asleep until the 1:30-2:00 mark, and they let them sleep until they wake up. Then at 3:30 they give them a nice sugary snack. So is it any wonder why my kids aren't ready for bed by 7-8 at night??? Why is it that during the summers they can fall asleep by 7-8pm and wake up at 7am and go through the entire day without a nap, but during the school year, they suddenly NEED a 2 hour nap and only sleep from 11pm-6:30am? They literally lie in bed awake for hours before falling asleep around 11pm, 1-2 hours after MY bedtime. It's actually unhealthy for a toddler to sleep to regularly sleep so little at night. They need a good, long stretch of sleep at night much more than a nap during the day.
And, honestly, I couldn't care less that the teachers need a break and quiet time during the day. That's a piss poor excuse to force my kid to lie down quietly for a 2-hour stretch. Child care centers and preschools should provide enough coverage to allow their teachers to take official lunches and breaks - my children shouldn't have to be forced to sit on a cot to accommodate such a break schedule.
If you KNOW your children do not require a daytime nap, why would you enroll them in a program that gives them a nap then?
There are LOTS of providers that don't require kids to nap/rest and there are also providers who are required by the state to give children in their care a rest or nap time.
NOT all facilities operate the same way, which is why it is extremely important that you, as a parent do YOUR job and find a provider that meets YOUR family's needs.
If I knew my child did not require a nap and the facility I had them enrolled in made them take one, I'd be finding a new daycare.
Providers do what works for them and parents need to do what works for them.
Seems like an easy solution to me.
