I got a rude reminder yesterday of why I no longer put Dylan down for naps. He stopped napping over a year ago. Probably right around his 3rd birthday. Yesterday we took Dylan to Collin's afternoon soccer game and he had some pretty good temper tantrum meltdowns. I was so frustrated when we got home that I put him down for a nap. He actually went to sleep and woke up around 5:00 only because the dog barked like crazy when I came home from the library. Last night he could not get to sleep and it was probably close to 1 AM before he finally settled down. As I see it, I have three options.
1) Don't give him a nap and put up with his cranky, bad attitude all afternoon\evening.
2) Put him down for a nap (usually a huge struggle) and wake him up after 30-60 minutes, so he doesn't sleep too long. This also ends up with a cranky, bad attitude because he was woken up.
3) Put him down for a nap (huge struggle) and then stay up with him until the wee hours of the morning because he can't sleep.
I feel like I lose no matter which option I choose. Since he is still somewhat cranky even after having a nap (he just turned four after all), I feel like not giving him naps is still my best option. I just need yesterday's reminder every once in a while to remember why I don't put him down for naps. Collin napped through kindergarten, probably until he was close to seven years old. He still takes a good nap every once in a while when needed. Every kid is so different!
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2 comments:
I'm going through this same thing with Orion, who just turned 3. If he gets a nap he's up really late. If he doesn't get a nap he's cranky late in the afternoon and I have to work to keep him up until at least 7 so he'll be out all night. There's no way to win at this game right now.
I've started putting Acer down for Rests. He's in bed, but he doesn't have to sleep. I set the timer for an hour and a half and then he's done. He doesn't get any toys in bed, which he does for naps, but the time in bed is shorter. If he falls asleep, he sleeps for no more than an hour and a half. any more than that and he doesn't go to sleep at night.
Nights we're going to be up later, like for Church Band practice, I'll put him down for a nap. He gets toys in bed, but he sleeps as long as I can let him.
We had to experiment to see how long of a nap he could take, and still go to sleep at a normal time. Hour and a half was it for Acer. Some kids really only need 20 minutes of sleep for their nap and are grumpier if left too long.
Happy experimenting!
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