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Former Teacher 04:26 PM 10-08-2009
Oh! I do remember those kind of parents! TX law requires ALL children regardless of age must be allowed to have a "rest period". They do not have to sleep but they are required to lie down. After 30 mins, if they are not already sleeping, then they must be allowed to do the quiet activities.

My take 1: Depending on the parent, (and child!) I may or may not have honored this request. I have had parents tell me not to put the child down because they would be picking the child up early (that NEVER happened!) I have also had parents tell me, like you, because they wanted them to go to bed early. Without sounding rude, but IMO, I was not going to make things convenient for THEM and let my day go to heck. If the child is tired, esp. at that age, I let them sleep.

My take 2: In all honesty, again depending on the child, if a child was awake, sometimes I would let them just lay there without the quiet activities. Sometimes with the quiet things it got worse because the child would get louder. Then you would have the whole room get up. The only time I would do the quiet thing at all would be if state was there.

My take 3: If I was in your situation, I would explain to the parent that all children are required to have a rest period. Show your Minimum Standards. Explain to her that if the state came for an inspection and saw her little one running around, out of control, etc you would be written up. Tell her that to make things better for all around, that you would wake the child up earlier then the other children so that should you be inspected, so and so would still be involved in the quiet things.

Good luck!
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