WTH? Sleeping at naptime

Jelliebean1982

DD goes to the preschool where I work.  My classroom is literally 10 feet away from hers.  Lately she hasn't been sleeping at naptime, which leads her to be a mess in the evening.  She's fallen asleep randomly in the evening all this week.  She's fallen asleep on top of DH while he was watching the game, she fell asleep standing up with her head on my lap while I worked on report card grades this week, on Friday night she was taking a long time in the bathroom.  DH went in to see what was going on and she was knocked out on the toilet! 

I've tried bribing her with Halloween candy when she wakes up but she just tells me that her brain keeps telling her not to sleep at naptime.  

I get that she's almost five and should be dropping it this year, but it seems like she still needs the nap.  Any suggestions?

Angela814

I think I would just start moving up her bedtime and let her drop the nap. She should eventually start sleeping longer as she adjusts.

Jelliebean1982

Angela814:

I think I would just start moving up her bedtime and let her drop the nap. She should eventually start sleeping longer as she adjusts.

Maybe with daylight savings this could be a solution.  I can never get her to go to sleep before the sun is down, but with the earlier nights maybe I can do bedtime for her at 7. 

We just had such a good schedule going when she was sleeping at school.  I don't want to change it!

Littlejen22

My kids gave up maps before three, sounds like she is ready but needs to adjust, it sucks but the adjustment is hard for them but normal.

jlw2505

I would stop the nap battle, she will need to drop it once she starts kindergarten anyway and just change her bedtime.  My 4 1/2 year old will be in Kindergarten next year and her PreK class has a 1 1/2 hour rest time.  My DD rarely sleeps but she does enjoy the quiet time.  She has a 7pm bedtime and wakes up at 6:15 in the morning.  We do a quiet time about 60 % of the time on weekends and she actually only naps maybe 10% of the time.  If she is tired at night, we simply adjust bedtime or have an extra quiet time (like yesterday we did a movie later in the afternoon since had missed quiet time due to a party.  Bribing your child to nap will never work and will only backfire.

Princess_Lily

What is her usual bedtime?

Insist to have a quiet hour after school if there isn't one in school (give her a cool drink, a snack, and maybe a story in bed)  If that doesn't work, what about a nice quiet movie? 

She's old enough to understand why she can't sleep, so explain to her she needs to find something which will be soothing & calming.  Maybe its painting, watching a movie...come  up with ideas together.