Its Official!
 

Starting Monday if you aren't asleep by 1:30, you are getting up and doing something.

I don't know what right now but I will find something over the weekend.

To have kids not sleep and make it impossiable for me to get anything done in the 10.5 hours I have them is getting old. So they can do something during naptime. Not that I can get much more done but I won't be telling them over and over and over to sleep, be quiet, lay down, close your eyes, etc.

My state requires we allow kids to get up after 30 minutes. I'm not in love with that requirement. I agree tho, it's hard to keep telling them to quiet down, etc. I just wish we were allowed an hour.

give them paper towels and a spray bottle of water (maybe with a small amount of vinegar) and have them "clean"

playdough, sensory boxes, puzzles, coloring (lol :lol: ) nah, really, "drawing", looking at books....

I let kids up too, but the activities offered are simple, quiet, and do not require any assistance from me.

Mine get a "nap box" - quiet things that require no help from me: books, children's magazines, color wonder markers and paper (the kind where they can draw anything, not the pre-drawn ones), magna doodles, handheld water games, finger puppets, view finders, small puzzles, etch-a-sketch, etc. The boxes get rotated and switched up every now and then so they don't get bored.

Originally Posted by Leanna:
Mine get a "nap box" - quiet things that require no help from me: books, children's magazines, color wonder markers and paper (the kind where they can draw anything, not the pre-drawn ones), magna doodles, handheld water games, finger puppets, view finders, small puzzles, etch-a-sketch, etc. The boxes get rotated and switched up every now and then so they don't get bored.

Love that idea!! I have 3 kids 2 - 2 1/2 and 1 - 4 year old they do not nap..And they will watch a movie, but after that they want up..I may try this idea;)

We play hard and keep a good structure in the morning to get our energy out so al my kids nap. My oldest is 3 and I make sure to let parents know their child will be taking a nap. If I had an older 4 or a 5 year old I would offer quiet activities starting at 2 pm, but I am always going to take that one hour because i'm still busy with babies and it takes half hour to fall asleep for some kids anyways. No one is perfect, but you do what is best. We don't have a requirement, just a recommendation for the 30-60 minutes down time.