I am a preschool teacher and am surprised at all the other providers who consider nap time a break for them. I suppose if you are in an in-home daycare and work by yourself, that time can be considered a break even if it is spent cleaning and prepping. However, I work in a wonderful center and I get my hour lunch break during nap time while my co-teacher stays in the room with the napping kids- when I return she goes on her hour lunch. State licensing law requires that children lay on their mats quietly for a half hour. If they are awake after this point I will give them books to look at while I set up quiet table activities for post nap. I also clean the lunch tables, write in the notebooks so that parents know what their child did during the day, disinfect and bleach and make sure we are up to licensing standards in terms of paperwork on the rare occasion that everyone is down and all else is done (Both teacher take turns with these duties- FYI). Naptime can be a source of contention between families and teachers, but at the end of the day we all want what is best for the children. I am not looking for nap time to be my down time- I have a lunch break for that. However, I do not want the children who do need naps to go without because one child is having a hard time falling asleep at home. Please note that nap time is never three hours! Maybe from the completion of lunch and transitioning onto mats, bathrooms, last minute bathrooms and until the last child is awake and doing an activity but I have never heard of having kids lay on mats for three or even two hours, especially if they are awake.
I currently teach a mixed age (3-5 year-olds) classroom and have two families who don't want their children to nap. One parent has a 4 1/2 year old who apparently has a hard time falling asleep at home and the bedtime routine, as it was explained to me, does not seem very relaxing. Also, I asked about any toys that are allowed in bed and mom said they can have legos or similar toys so that they are more likely to stay in bed. Legos, blocks, cars- pretty much anything other than stuffed animals or other cuddly toys- do not belong in bed. Also, this child falls asleep during the rest time and I hate having to quietly shake and coax the child awake after a half hour or hour of sleep. I do it, because the parent had asked this of us to help the bed time at hom but now we are being asked to "phase" naps out entirely. A child is the one who phases a nap out.
The other child is three and naps like a champ! The infant sibling at home apparently is on a new feeding schedule so the three year old wants to stay up like the baby but mom blames her desire to stay up with mom and the baby on her school naps. This child falls asleep on her own and is impossible to wake up. On the one or two occasions she didn't sleep (naptime disruptions from another child who did not want to sleep) she was a wreck the rest of the day. I am happy to allow a child books and paper and crayons on their mats after the half hour rest period but I will not keep a child up. That is preposterous to me!
Furthermore, when you pay someone to care for your child- whether it is in-home or a center, I find it repulsive and demeaning that you feel that person does not deserve a break. Apparently, the quality of care your child receives is less important than the fact that he not nap since you sent him to a place where the food was not great and the place was not as clean as you would have preferred- but hey, no naps! Did you ever think: "Perhaps my child's teacher is totally burned out from dealing with children all day without any opportunity for a moment of silence or peace and will probably deliver less than stellar care for the remainder of the day". I guess that the thought of moving your child's 8pm bedtime back a little (What an idea! Ever considered that instead of no naps- maybe he can stay up an extra half hour since he's FOUR?!) seemed less far-fetched than child care hopping. I wonder why your mom took another job instead of watching your son and nephew? And think about it this way: if your child came home cranky and miserable every day because the non-napping kids kept him up, how would that make you feel. I get a lot more parents asking that their kids nap than those who want them awake. On those "busy" weekends when you guys probably make cookies and walk to the park, little "Tommy" is getting a lot less tuckered out because he is not following a classroom schedule. A day in preschool dealing with 10 to 14 other children, non-stop activities, playtime and learning can quite frankly can be exhausting compared to hanging out with mom- no matter how much you do. Take home your child's classroom schedule and invite three or more of his friends (and children he doesn't like to really replicate the classroom experience) over and see how well he naps that day. I am completely in favor of supporting parents but I feel like sometimes parents feel like their child is the only one being cared for. That is called getting a nanny.
If it is so hard to find "good help" why not downgrade your car, move to a smaller home in a less desirable neighborhood, cut back on your frivolous spending so you can work less and spend more time at home with your child. That way, you can raise him any way you see fit. BUT as long as you pay someone else to do that job for you, you cease being the one and only rule-maker.

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