Do your older children still take naps?

[Rebecca in GA]

My 7-year-old still benefits from an occasional afternoon nap, and I try to make sure we all have an hour or two of reading and rest time -- quiet required! -- most afternoons.

 

I'm much fresher myself after a 15 or 20-minute catnap and a chance to read for a little while, but I don't want to encourage the children to be lazy, either. Thoughts?

 

Edited to add: This is their "free reading" time, so I do count it as school if they don't choose to sleep.

[Pamela H in Texas]

We had quiet time when my kids were that age. My daughter stopped napping in infancy, but my son napped as necessary at whatever age.

 

Honestly, *I* nap WAY more than my kids ever did. I don't think it's a sign of laziness in the least.

 

Pamela

[JFSinIL]

but I do if i can get away from them!!!! :D

 

My kids gave up naps and never looked back about age 4 - if anyone naps now, odds are he or she is getting ready to be ill. Or snuck downstairs and played computer games all night!!!!

[hose]

Mine took naps consistently until they were about 6. I always knew that they would never survive kindergarten in public school!

[j.griff]

I have been told by someone much older, wiser, and more travelled than I (I've never left the country)- that many cultures around the world value "nap time", and that western cultures are "lacking" in this regard.

[Old Dominion Heather]

if anyone naps now, odds are he or she is getting ready to be ill.

 

This is us. I never nap unless I am sick. It is an anathema to me. My kids all stopped taking naps before they were three.

[ChristyB in TN]

I love afternoon naps. My kids are athletes so they take naps here and there. We don't schedule them or anything but if we need to take a nap, we just take a nap! It is more effective for me than caffeine and I find that we all get more done if we sleep for 20 minutes or so. If I am swimming in the morning and running in the afternoon mixed with weight workouts and yoga, you bet I take a nap!

[AnneJ]

We have naptime here every day!! My oldest (10yo) doesn't nap anymore but she either works on schoolwork or just has some quiet time by herself. My dd7 sometimes takes a nap--depends on what we had the night before and if she had enought sleep (she has to get up at 7). Dd2 (almost 3) still naps every day. Ds5 lies down every day and sleeps about half the time. I lie down and sleep every day. I don't know how I'd survive without naptime. I don't think it is being lazy at all.

[PariSarah]

Everybody needs that quiet hour or two. Some of us need it because we need to recharge ourselves from too much "other people" time. Others need it because if they weren't forced to, they'd never learn to be content with their own company, with their own thoughts.

 

So, yes, my 10yo still gets Quiet Rest Time, AKA Quiet Reading Time. I think he'd rather gnaw off his own ears than actually take a nap, so I tend to assume that if he sleeps during that time, he really needed it. I take a cat-nap from time to time during this period, too, but more often I cruise the boards, knit a little, or go out in my garden.

 

It's really the rest of the day where I look for signs of laziness--or, more accurately, work-apathy: chores half-done, schoolwork sloppily done, that sort of thing. Appropriate rest doesn't come anywhere close to causing or encouraging any of that.

[PrairieAir]

I often need a 15 minute nap by late morning or early afternoon. I get up early and it helps keep me going. My 11yodd is napping on the couch right now. She's picked up my early to rise and power napping habits:D We're done with school for the most part, though. She seems to get much more done this way.

[Puma Mom]

Uhhh....yeah. My almost 15yo ds naps occasionally, especially if he got up particularly early to be somewhere. He napped regularly until he was about 7, when it started to taper off. He's just always been a very active kid.

 

10yo dd naps every month or so. 17yo ds never naps.

 

It's bad when my sil hears that ds14 took a nap that day and her own 2yo did not!:D

[KS_]

My two stopped having regular naps at a very early age (just after a year old for the most part). So as soon as my son was old enough to understand the concept of a "quiet time," we started doing that instead. They're not always as quiet as I'd like, but we have quiet time everyday, except during the summer - if they're outside playing I don't make them come in. But it's definitely a necessary part of the school year, IMO.

[Janet in WA]

No. If they napped at that age, it interfered with their sleep at night.

 

Also, by that age, they had afternoon activities (sports, Cub Scouts, etc.) so no naps didn't fit into our day.

[Tutor]

We have a 1.5 hour quiet time every afternoon here. Usually, the 11yo, the 4yo and I nap (although my nap isn't as long as I'd like :glare:). My 7yo and 9yo usually read or play quietly on their beds. When dh is home in the afternoons, he usually naps, too.

[Tracey in TX]

ROFL!!! :lol::lol::lol: All mine stopped napping before their 2nd birthday!

What I wouldn't do for just one quick little nap today.

[WTMCassandra]

Yes, the days of the week we are home. This normally works out to 3-4 days a week. They are old enough to go without, but not for too long. We sleep for one hour and read for one hour. I particularly like them to rest on Wednesdays because we are out late at Bible Study--otherwise, my 9yo is so tired he falls asleep in the car on the way home and then gets messed up waking to get to bed and trying to go back to sleep.

 

I am in introvert and desperately need that quiet time. I wish I could nap then too, but I need a longer nap to feel better. I take a nap on Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon whenever possible. I read, return phone calls, etc.

 

I guess we are a lower-energy family. My children get cranky if they go without a nap for more than two or three days straight.

[mcconnellboys]

I had my younger son still taking naps last year, at 9. He has not done that this year as we just don't have time in our day, generally, but I have let him sleep in many mornings during the winter, which amounts to the same thing. Some people just need more sleep than others and he's very much like me and needs that.

[Sue G in PA]

while my dd2 is a BEAR if she does have a nap. Go figure. She is much better off skipping the nap and going to bed earlier while ds5 MUST have a nap or around dinner-time he starts to get even more rotten than usual. My dd11 will occasionally wake up in a poor mood and will go back to sleep for an hour. My older boys? No naps unless they are sick. To them, a nap is like fate worse than death. :001_huh: For me? If I don't get a nap...I'm done in. I loved living in Spain when I was in clge b/c of the pm siestas. Everything shut down from 1-4 pm for the siesta. It was GREAT! Sort of like a mandatory nap. :D

[nmoira]

I wish... both my stopped napping at two. I need a bit of downtime during the day; they apparently don't.

[Doran]

I wish... both my stopped napping at two. I need a bit of downtime during the day; they apparently don't.

 

 

Same here! They are now 11 and 13 :D...so I was giggling a bit at the concept of "older children" still taking naps. Our oldest gave up naps at around 2, despite our very wise pediatrician's prediction that she'd nap for another year or more. She went from being a 2 hour/day napper to zippo in a matter of weeks. Blah. The youngest never was a good napper - to the point that trying to make her sleep was harder than giving up. So, we gave up.

 

That said, if I'd had the kind of lifestyle that would have enabled me to stay in, and stay quiet for an hour+ when my kids were that age, I sure as shootin' would have implemented that. But, as a busy market farmer, nap time was just time for me to go out and work in uninterrupted fashion. So, when the naps stopped, the kids just hung with me. It wasn't smart to leave them unattended in the house if they weren't asleep!;)

[Plaid Dad]

My dd doesn't nap, but I do. :)

[Lady Katherine]

My dd doesn't nap, but I do. :)

 

Me, too!!

[jail warden]

we also have quiet time here. We take one hour in the afternoon and read. My baby is the only one who sleeps, except on rare occasions. We MUST have this. I don't think it encourages laziness, it encourages rejuvination. I don't know about you, but I NEED this time too! It helps me make it through the rest of the day. Also, it's nice to have my kids relax and take a break from each other. It helps a lot with fighting!

[claussenpc]

I have onw that will nap (8 dd) and two that will not. It keeps her healthy and happy.

[Amy in Orlando]

My kids are older and haven't napped regularly in a long time (though, they all took naps well into being 4! whew). But we still have quiet time and most school days "I" take a 30-45 minute nap. If anything my own nap makes me more productive. I don't think our quiet time encourages laziness in any of the boys. Like PariSarah said, it helps to settle the introverts and it serves to quiet the extroverts.

 

Of course it doesn't always work out this way. Here is a description of our day yesterday. http://www.thefoilhat.com/insidethefoilhatblog.htm?blogentryid=3304452

[mktkcb]

Well, I've discovered that my children (so far) have followed the progression that I went through growing up. Meaning that in middle childhood, naps are looked down upon in general, although occasionally enforced by parents. But around age 13 or so, both my girls "woke up" to the realization that a nap is really nice during the day when you are extra tired. I did the same at about the same age. So, my 11 yo ds would be offended if I even suggested it. My dds (almost 15, almost 17) sneak them as often as they can when I'm not paying attention LOL. I'll be looking for "so & so", because they need to be diligently working on Physics only to find that they snuck up to bed.....:o/. Teenagers!

[RedHen6]

No naps, but quiet time is enforced after 8 p.m. It's "read or go to bed" after that time! And the books have to be "mother-approved."

[Mom4Jesus]

No they don't.