Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I am very surprised to hear daycare providers speak this way in a public forum.
I am the parent of a 3 1/2 yr old who does not need a nap. On weekends, she is quite happy and content, goes to bed at 8-8:30pm tops, getting up at the same time as we would on weekdays when we go to daycare, 7:30am ish.
Yet on weeknights, I cannot get her to sleep. This is not a question of discipline, as I have no issue on the weekends when she does not take a nap. The only difference is the daycare nap of approx 2 hours. She usually falls asleep around 10:30 - 11pm. Almost exactly 2 hours later...see the link!
I find your comments on parents to be generalizations that are not helpful to parents and children. Some children may need a nap while others do not...you shoudl be able to adapt your practices to these facts.
i agree as a parent and a care provider. when i was going to school, i worked at the "chain daycare" my kids attended. they had a naptime of 12:30 - 2:30, but in reality, they would have the kids lie down at 12 and if they weren't up by 2:30, they would let them keep sleeping. i told my son's teacher that she needed to wake him up if he wasn't up by 2:30. my kids already stay up until 10 at LEAST and letting him sleep 3-4 hours wasn't helping. my daughter who was 4 at the time got to where she no longer needed naps, along with a lot of the other 4 year olds. they would make them lie on the mats. they claim to give them books or "quiet activities" but really, they tried to make them sleep so they could break. they got downright mad and mean with the kids if they wouldn't sleep. i know. i worked there. i found it much easier for everyone to let those kids who didn't fall asleep after 30 mins come to a table with me to color or play with play dough - with the stipulation that if they got loud, they would have to lie back down. it was much easier doing that than it was trying for 2 hours to keep them quiet and still.
i'm not licensed as a daycare because i only keep 4 kids so i don't have to be. i did that on purpose because i have the freedom to let the kids sleep when they want or not make them if they don't want to. there are other advantages - like i don't have to take them outside if it's 33 degrees outside and they're all coughing. the parents love it because their kids can sleep when they want to instead of when my schedule says they have to. i don't have to stop serving breakfast at a certain time, etc. parents like that because if they're running late, their kids don't have to starve until snack time because the state says i have a cutoff time. i can basically operate like a "babysitter" but i don't charge like a babysitter. there's a difference though in being licensed and not being licensed.