The Nap Wars

 

As a mom, I sort of live for nap time. That sounds bad, but it’s really not because nap time gives me a break from parenting. The real reason is that the Five O’clock Crankies are about a million times worse if one or the other of my kids hasn’t napped. It makes for a REALLY long afternoon and evening.

So my big girl has been in the routine of eating lunch, going up with me to her room and reading 2 stories, then listening to me sing her to sleep. She would nap for about an hour, then wake up refreshed and ready to move on to the next activity. Well, now that she is closer to 4 years old, The Nap Wars have begun. It’s a constant chorus of “I’m not tired” or “I don’t want to sleep” or even “I’M NOT TAKING A NAP!”. That last one is how I know that she very much needs a nap.

We have tried just doing quiet time. It doesn’t help and she is still melting down about 8 times during the afternoon. I’ve tried just powering through it and forcing her to nap. It ends in a battle that can go on for hours and get pretty ugly. I’ve even tried giving up on the whole thing completely, keeping her super busy during the afternoons and then putting her to bed at like 6pm. That works a little bit better, but she still has a bunch of meltdowns in the afternoons and just looks like she isn’t getting enough rest.

Anyway, this whole nap thing has become exhausting, and I feel like I need a nap just talking about it. Alice is one of the older kids in our group of friends, so I haven’t really seen other moms handle this transition away from napping. I know that other people’s kids don’t nap, but those kids (and moms) seem fine. Maybe I just don’t see their meltdowns? Maybe it’s been long enough that those kids really don’t need the nap? I don’t know. Advice is appreciated.

P.S. Mom and dad, I totally feel for you now…I never did nap, did I?!