S/O Nap/quiet time at preschool

Starr57

DS's class still has nap/quiet time in his class at school. He rarely needs a nap anymore, so more often than not, he's not sleeping. They have all the kids lie on a mat for 1.5-2 hours. DS has a really hard time being quiet and is often reprimanded or taken out into the hallway.

It bothers me that he's "always in trouble" when it seems like forcing a 4yo who doesn't nap to be quiet for 2 hours is unreasonable. He's not the only kid who I've seen awake when I drop by during QT. I would really prefer if they could separate the kids who don't nap and let them read books or play quietly in another room. I know this isn't always feasible with the number of teachers they have.

Also, they still have quiet time in the preK room that he'll be in next year. I can only imagine there are MORE kids who have the same issue as they get older.

Do I have any room to say anything or make any suggestions? I don't want to make it harder on the teachers, but it just seems to me like this isn't working.

ETA: I should say that his class is older 3s & young 4s, so the long rest time may be tailored for the younger kids.

omurray

I agree that forcing a 4 yr old to lie quietly on a mat for 1.5 to 2 hrs is completely ridiculous. 

jlw2505

Do they give the kids anything to do on their cots during this time?  In my DD's PreK room and actually now that I think about it, at our daycare they did the same thing - they let the kids have "quiet toys" - meaning whiteboards, books and other toys that the kids can play with quietly by themselves during this time.  I know at my daycare that the place the cots of the kids that don't nap any longer on one side of the  room while the kids who still nap are on the other.  They will sometimes get out some coloring stuff on the tables after an hour of the quiet time as long as the kids do not make too much noise.  I know my older DD sometimes has issues still being quiet even with the white boards (today and yesterday have been issues) and in that case, one of the teachers has taken her into the teachers conference room during the quiet time so she doesn't bother the other kids.

xbrooklyngrl

I agree. B hasn't really napped since she was 2 and this was always an issue in her old daycare. They used to find her slipping off the other kids shoes and putting them back on backwards when she was younger.

Luckily, her pre-school now only does about 30 minutes.

Ciarrai

That does seem a bit ridiculous!!  1.5-2 hours??  In the "two-year-old class" (kids who were 2 on September 1st), they lay down for 45 minutes to an hour.  In the 3-year-old class, it was more like 30-45 minutes and they skipped nap on days they had something to do.  In the 4-year-old/preK class, they don't have naptime at all, but do sit on towels while the teacher reads 2-3 books for quiet time.  The other two classes are given books and "quiet toys" for kids who don't nap and are expected to stay on their mats quietly.  Neither of my girls nap anymore, but it's only been a problem once for DD#2.  She just reads a book or plays quietly with a stuffed animal/doll on her mat.  If she doesn't go to sleep within about 20-30 minutes, the teachers will usually let the kids who are still awake get up and color or something if they stay quiet.

Zenya

that's totally ridiculous.  A half hour, sure but up to 2 hours?  wtf are the teachers doing during that time?  

shouldbworkin

I think 30-45 mins is adequate at that age.  I'd kind of be pi$$ed that they weren't teaching the kids or allowing them to interact for 2 hours of the day!  What are you paying them for?

DaiLyght

This was a big issue for us at our last school (we changed about a month ago). They had a mix of 3 through pre-K in the same room, all napping together for about 2 hours. DS1 was beyond napping. Fully staffed, they would take the group of non-nappers into another area to have a quiet activity, more often than not, this didn't happen. DS1 was constantly getting into trouble for not being quiet during nap time. I had several conferences with the director about it, so I think you should absolutely speak up and make this situation better for him (and the teachers!).

FWIW, in his new school, it's only pre-k kids and quiet time only lasts for an hour. They are allowed to read, or do some other quiet activity, but they have to stay on their cots. Like magic, suddenly my DS isn't getting into trouble every day for not "laying quietly"!

true_norskie

At our daycare DD1 has 20 minutes of rest time on her cot.  After that, all of the non-sleeping kids (DD is one of them) are taken to a different room for a quiet activity by themselves (coloring, "reading" by themselves, etc).

Since the school-aged kids room is generally empty during the day (since those kids are in school), that is where they go.

1.5-2 hours is a little unreasonable to expect a child to remain quiet and "entertained."

shopgirl78

In PreK, they gave DD books to look at.  That is a long time to just lay there.

kjr

My son goes to an in-home daycare.  He quit napping just before he turned 3.  We were having serious issues with his getting in trouble during naptime. 

I took the advice of the ladies on here that said that if he doesn't nap, it was asking too much of him to lay there quietly for 2 hours. 

I talked to the daycare provider and she started letting him color quietly in the other room while the kids sleep. 

He hasn't been in trouble since. 

jlw2505

Reading all of these responses, I guess my kids and the majority of the kids at my daycare are not the norm.  My 3 year old's preschool room still has a 2 hour quiet/nap time as does my 4 1/2 year olds PreK program.  In the 3 year olds room, the majority of the kids nap for at least an hour - my DD would nap longer than that but we have her woken after an hour or she won't go to sleep at night.  In my 4 1/2 year olds PreK room, many of the kids still nap and these kids range from 4 1/2 (my DD is one of the youngest) to a few 6 year olds.  One on a normal day to day basis, these kids do great with the quiet time even if they don't nap since the teachers at both schools give the kids things to do after a certain amount of time - books, white boards, etc.  I am the 1st to admit that my DD has trouble staying quiet some of the time (today and yesterday being those days) but I know that she is often great during this time period.  I know many kids who nap until they are 4 or 5.

Mrs Manners

At our daycare the three year olds nap for 1 hr 45 minutes. Ds ALWAYS needs a nap at home and really needs a nap at school, but sometimes doesn't get one because it's so distracting there, not dark with all the windows and they play music during nap time. Last week he got removed from class during nap for being disruptive for the first time. I think by the time they are in PreK, it's a 30-45 minute rest period.

GingerSB

That is crazy. At our daycare, they had to lie for a minimum of 30 mins, after that if they were still awake they could go into the library and read or do puzzles.

ak1234

Um, I wouldn't be able to lie still for 2 hours if I didn't have anything to do and I wasn't sleeping.  I think it is unreasonable, and you should definitely bring it up.

fancynewbeesly

When I taught at a preschool they did 2 hour "naps"--however the guideline was (I am not sure if it was a state or center guideline) after an hour, they are given a quiet activity to do.

The problem was in the school I taught at there were one teacher and an aide. Lunches were taken during this time. So, she would leave for an hour, and I would be with the kids, and when she came back I would leave for lunch.

The sticky part was state ratios. In the age group of 3 year olds, it was a 10 to 1 ratio for our state. However, if the kids were sleeping, it didn't really matter. (Because they were well...sleeping!) So if we had 22 kids in our class, and 10 of them were awake, there needed to be two teachers in there. And of course the preschool was short staffed.

Another issue as a teacher (and I got out of there as quickly as I could...) was you were NOT allowed to stand on chairs with any kids in the room or awake. The center was open from 7-6, and they would force you to leave if you didn't have many kids in the class, and have someone cover for you. So many days you couldn't stay late to hang up things. However, ALL the items in the classroom on the wall had to be changed once a month or you would be written up.

So naptime was the only time to do it.

Not that it was right, but unfortunately many teachers there are just following the center mandated guidelines/state guidelines.

Like I said; I got out of working in a daycare as quickly as I possibly could. Many days I went for interviews before work or on my lunch.  

true_norskie

jlw2505:

Reading all of these responses, I guess my kids and the majority of the kids at my daycare are not the norm.  My 3 year old's preschool room still has a 2 hour quiet/nap time as does my 4 1/2 year olds PreK program.  In the 3 year olds room, the majority of the kids nap for at least an hour - my DD would nap longer than that but we have her woken after an hour or she won't go to sleep at night.  In my 4 1/2 year olds PreK room, many of the kids still nap and these kids range from 4 1/2 (my DD is one of the youngest) to a few 6 year olds.  I know many kids who nap until they are 4 or 5.

This sounds typical of our center--and my kids.  DD2 naps about 1-1.5 hours at daycare (would go longer but the distractions get to her), usually 2+ hours at home.  DD1 still naps a lot on weekends, 1-1.5 hours.  DD1 is as light a sleeper as I am so she can't shut out the noise at daycare. 

They are slowly phasing out the naps in the pre-k room (DD1) because with the summer program they won't have naptime.