I love naps.
I am a real believer in having my kiddos take naps. Dicie is 7 and I still force her to take a nap most Sundays. I think I get it from my Mom - she was always very diligent about having us take naps as kids. Dallin, 5, now only takes a nap once, maybe twice a week but I think it makes a big difference in how he behaves. After days and days of no naps he can get kinda cranky, but it's when he starts getting overly emotional about silly things that I can tell he needs more sleep. We also reinforce a consistent 8:00p bedtime in the evenings, so that helps. It is the kids 3 and under that always take daily naps. It really helps them to be happier little people, and therefore helps me! I also enjoy the quiet time we have in the afternoons while the younger ones are napping.
BUT - there are days when my dedication to giving my kids naps makes my life HARD! Particularly when I have a younger one who takes 2 naps a day, it is often very difficult to leave the house! We are tethered to home by our naptime schedule. Sometimes we just skip the morning nap and run our errands, but the price must always be paid later by dealing with an overly tired hysterical baby.
Today I really needed to run errands during preschool, but by 9am Jameson was completely impossible, crying and hanging on me with snot running down his face. I didn't want to do it, but I HAD to throw him in bed and let him nap. My errands will have to wait.
But really, I do love naps.
4 comments:
I agree about the whole nap thing. Kids need it, moms need it, but it sure leaves you tethered to the house. Unless you have a kid like Tabitha who NEVER EVER naps! Argh. She quit waaay too early for my liking. Luckily Miriam is still a great napper and even quite cheerful about it.
Neither one of my kids nap on a regular basis. Zoe doesn't sleep at night if I give her a nap and Eliza fights it really hard even though she needs one. Usually she falls asleep in the car or will watch a movie and fall asleep on the couch. But NOT in her bed. ARGG! I could use a little mom time.
Naps, like personalities, are totally different for every kid, aren't they? I agree 100% that kids need naps up to age 3, and even thereafter if you can get them to do it. Or even if they don't go to sleep, a little quiet time by themselves is a good thing too. Yes, it totally ties you to the house and you can't get any errands done... but it's worth it to not have an onery (sp?) kid for the rest of the day. Besides, who doesn't have a load of housework just sitting there waiting for a moment of your time? Unfortunately for my house, I usually use any spare moment I get to work on a quilt!
Aw, the constant plight of being a mother and having to make sacrifices for nap schedules. I too am a strong believer in good solid naps. It was easy when Mimi was younger because she literally would sleep anywhere. But now that she is older we have to be home for naps. There is a solid 3 hours that I cannot leave the house and it just so happens to be during Mommy prime time.
My mom was telling me some funny stories about when she was a young mom and got really desperate once. She had to run to the grocery store really quickly but we were sleeping. She called our neighbor and said, "Could you please put your phone on speaker. I'm going to put the phone by the kid's doors and run really quick to the store. If you hear any crying etc. could you run over and check on them?" We had a good laugh over this one because we both understood how desperate a mom can get and in so being, do crazy things in those moments of desparation.
Anyway, I'm glad you are sacrificing so that your kids can be happy little creatures and get their naps.
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