How do you do "quiet time" in your home?

[Surfside Academy]

I really want to implement a one hour quiet time this upcoming school year. The problem is that we're room-challenged. My older son has his own room but my younger two share a bedroom. I can already hear the arguing now putting them in the room together. I know some require kids to stay on their beds but honestly, that's not going to happen and I don't want to spend the entire time yelling at them to be quiet and get along. Any ideas??

[ladydusk]

My kids are all in different rooms (two in their rooms, one goes in the loft). I've seen people suggest turning couches backward against the wall if you run out of bedrooms.

[momofkhm]

When my kids were that young and had 2 sharing a room, one would be in another room, usually mine. And yes they would be on their beds but could have books. No toys, just books. It did work!

[jelbe5]

We also have a small house. My oldest has a bedroom in the basement, the younger two currently share a bedroom, then there is my husband's and my room.

 

Could you put one child in your bedroom, possibly rotating your two youngsters who share the room? One day one could be in your room and the other in the bedroom, then the following day you could switch them. This would mean you would need to find a place for a quiet time, but the living room might work.

 

Quiet time in our house is reading, listening to music/audiobooks, playing quietly with toys or catching 30 winks if necessary. We try to do this for one half hour per day, after lunch.

 

Adrianne in IL

[HeidiKC]

There was another thread on this exact topic a week or so ago. Hopefully you can do a search and find it? There were some good ideas.

[NanceXToo]

What if you make a fun little "cave" underneath a table (like with a blanket or sheet over it), or behind a couch pulled away from the wall, or some such, with a blanket and pillow, flashlight, book or audiobook or something underneath- the kids might get a kick out of it, and they can alternate who gets to use the "cave" that day.

 

Or... what if you let one of them use your bedroom for quiet time? My daughter loves when I let her read on my bed, for some reason!

[Barry Goldwater]

Use Mom&Dad's BR for one child? We do this for naptime, with 4 kids, 3 BRs.

[kdeno]

The other 4 dc and I rest in the living roomk for 30 min. listening to an audio book. I set the kitchen timer. If there is any funny business the child in question gets an extra 5 minutes. I just instituted this a few weeks ago. I was not sure if it would work but it has been great!

[Daisy]

Mine don't have to go to their room. They might sit on the couch with a book, lay down on the floor in my bedroom, sit in their own room, or even make a fort under the kitchen table and chill. They just have to be separate.

[CalicoKat]

I send them to their bedrooms and tell them to be extra quiet so Mom gets a bit of rest and can take them to the pool after dinner. Without a nap I just can't keep going after dinner. You can hear crickets singing.

 

Other times I park them in front of the TV with a movie. I assign each of my older girls a baby to watch. And I assign the middle dude the big girls to watch. Their job as watcher isn't to correct anyone just to report all unauthorized activities to mom. I do the punishing afterwards.

 

Unauthorized activities include emptying the fridge or pantry of it's contents, going outside, leaving designated area in front of the TV, .......