Our weekends have been pretty hectic lately. I feel as if I’m in the April and May rush to do every outside activity possible with my kids before the stifling heat and humidity of a Floridan summer take over in June, July, and August. I don’t want to be outside during those months and spend most of that 90 day period running from air-conditioned space to air-conditioned space. But in until then, I’m determined to do it all – water parks, playgrounds, picnics, festivals – you name it, I’m there with my kids in tow. All in addition to our normal family errands, Greenleigh’s dance class, birthday parties, work…
But because I’ve been trying to keep our calendar so full, there’s been a casualty – naptime.
Now I know what you’re thinking, my kids are 2 and 4 years old, they don’t need naps. Oh, but they do. Trust me, they do. The meltdown that they have about 2 hours before their regularly scheduled bedtime on days that they don’t nap tells me that. But even more importantly, I need naptime…to sleep or just to have my house quiet for an hour or two, I need naptime. And the perfect time for naptime in our house is between 2pm and 3pm. That way they’re up around 4 or 4:30, giving them time to play, eat dinner, and be ready for bed at their normal bedtime.
But that’s where the problem comes in. Because our calendar has been so full, we’re getting home later in the afternoon for naptime. By the time I get the kids cleaned up, changed, and ready to take a nap it’s 4pm. Too late to put the kids down for a nap if there’s a possibility of them sleeping more than an hour and a half, too early to put them to bed. Fast forward to 6pm and they are begging, literally begging, me to put them to sleep. Only for them to wake up extra early the next day…you know, Sunday. I mean who doesn’t want to be woken up by their kids at 6am on a day of “rest”? Okay, wait, I don’t. I really, really don’t.
Sometimes it’s poor planning on my part – I underestimate the amount of errands we have to run or how long it will take to get the kids ready for their nap. Other times it’s out of my control – our mommy group runs late or a birthday party is planned right around naptime. But no matter how it happens, that 4pm, no-win window is where I land. Every. Single. Time.
During the week I love 4pm because it signals that the work day is just about over. During the weekend, it’s a totally different story: 4pm is my enemy, not my friend.
If you have a little ones that still nap, how do you handle missing the ideal naptime? Do you push through, keep them up, then put them to bed early (even if they’re miserable) or allow them to take a late nap and throw off the bedtime/wake up schedule?
We are in the same boat as you… I struggle every day. I also keep randomly announcing, “I think he has grown out of naptime!” before I skip a few naps and realize (like you) that if he doesn’t go down voluntarily, I may duct tape him to a chair before dinner. I’d love to know who has this figured out…
If that happens, and I really try my best to not let it happen, I still let her nap for about 30-40ish mins and then wake her up. I found it doesn’t affect bedtime, and if anything she goes to bed later and sleeps til he normal time.
I can so relate to this post, my four year old has not taken a regular afternoon nap in a year. My 17 month old however, just went from taking two naps a day, down to one nap in the afternoon, but its right after lunch. So I literally put him in his crib after he eats, he’s up by 2:30 then we can do our afternoon running around. My four year old has soccer twice a week, but I don’t have a full calendar like you, I pretty much stick to the scheduled nap time, unless like you said there is a birthday party or something that comes up. That nap time is sooo sacred! 😉 I get you mama!