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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Refusing Nap
Preschool/daycare teacher 06:10 PM 03-22-2012
All of our children nap really well, EXCEPT one 3 (almost 4) yr old... who has been refusing to nap lately. And making it extremely difficult for anyone else to nap either. I have to stay right by her side the whole time she's awake because if I leave her side for a second, even just to go to the restroom, she's up and trying to wake the other children up. If that doesn't work beause I'm there with her and can stop her in time, she'll begin a tantrum, screaming, crying, kicking the wall, jumping all around on her cot.... you name it, she does it. I know letting her do quiet actvities while the others sleep wouldn't work because when she gets too loud and I have to remind her to be quiet, she gets louder, on purpose. And pretty soon ends up having a screaming, crying tantrum. I'm almost positive she does this for the attention, but no matter what I do, she wins and gets attention, whether it's positive or negative. She refuses to lay quiet while I pat her back, so I walk into next room (where I can hear everything, but she can't see me) so she's not getting attention. Then she gets up and tries waking the other children up. Send her back to cot (meaning she gets attention, also, even if it's just leading her to her cot, without talking), and she begins loud tantrum. Even if she stays on her cot, she talks out loud (too loudly) to herself, kicks the wall, etc. If I take her stuffed toy away (because she's playing with it instead of going to sleep, and making too much noise) then she begins the screaming crying fit... and the jumping around, trying to get up and run off, purposely trying to wake the others up. There's no other room I can put her in where she wouldn't still wake the others up.

I am not the owner and cannot term. Plus we couldn't afford to anyway (really low on enrollment), and it'd sound really silly to tell her parents that we're terming just because she doesn't sleep. We CANNOT afford to lose this family (plus the mom is really good, follows all the policies, arrives on time, drops off on time or calls ahead of time if she'll be late, pays on time, only brings her when she really needs care, etc). She also works with us on child's behavior as much as possible, but it hasn't helped. Child doesn't seem to care, no matter what we try, us or her mom, it doesn't phase her. Half the time she just laughs or smiles the whole time while being disciplined (here or at home, either one). So, besides terming her, does anyone have any suggestions we haven't tried yet? Already talked to mom, and no matter what she does, dcg continues to fight nap with us. Nothing new is going on at home that could be upsetting her, either. By the way, she's extremely tried, grumpy, and has awful behavior in the afternoons, after not getting a nap. I really wish we could just let her up after the others go to sleep, but she's too loud for that, and purposely tries to wake the others up so she can play with them, and then is awful that afternoon when everyone gets up from nap.
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Tags:sleep issues, won't sleep
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