What does your 2 or 3 year old do during quiet time if he doesn't nap anymore?

[jkl]

My 2 1/2 year old hasn't napped in a year (she was always a horrible napper). We are really struggling with quiet time, and I am pregnant and tired and really need it. My 5 and 7 year olds happily read/look at books on their beds. I made special boxes for my 2 year old with toys she only gets during quiet time, but she lasts about 5 minutes and then the screaming starts. It's been easier to just keep her out with me, but then I don't get a break! Help!

[Rachel]

When my son was that age and quit napping I would set a timer, he had to lay down until it went off, then he was allowed to look at books (and later play quietly with toys) until naptime was over at 3:00.  He was required to stay in his room and be quiet.  I started out by setting the timer for 2 minutes and gradually increasing it to 20.  It gave him enough time that if he was going to sleep he would, even if he didn't sleep gave him time to be still which seemed to recharge him.  Now that he's 6 he has to read 3 chapters or 3 picture books before he's allowed to play.

 

I never did anything that formal with my 3 year old, she would lay quiet until she heard my son start playing, then she would start playing too.  If they get too loud, they have to lay back down.

 

My friend always lets her daughter watch a movie.

 

Could you have one of your older kids play with her?  My 3rd child is still taking a nap, but when he gives it up I have a feeling my quiet time during naps will be gone.

[PeterPan]

Calliou

Signing Time

Leap Frog dvd

Magic School Bus (that was later, not sure about 2/3 yo)

 

Like your dc, he stopped napping around 2.  I plop him in front of the tv with some lunch on his lap.  If you don't give him the lunch, he might get up and not even sit on the couch.  He wouldn't watch Mr. Rogers at all till recently (age 5).  Mr. Rogers would be my *preference* for kids, but these are the things he would sit for.  He listens to audiobooks for bed and throughout the day, so we don't do that for quiet time.  

 

It's not a perfect thing to put him in front of videos, but it's what we do.  If it bugs you, sit with him, putting your feet up.  You get a snooze and he gets language input. (use earplugs?) The Signing Time videos are especially awesome for that age.  They can go with the Baby ones or the regular.  

[Desert Strawberry]

My 2 yo has to lay quietly with a book, toy, or me. Sometimes he sleeps, sometimes he doesn't.  I have found that he can't be in the room with my still-napping 4yo, or they will play, and no one will sleep. 

If she doesn't get the quiet time concept, can you take her to bed with you? Can you lay on the sofa while she plays? Can you take a break while they all play together?

[73349]

Bribery worked in a way that special quiet time toys alone did not. Do your kids like stickers?

[SorrelZG]

He draws in his notebook, looks at books, or plays with a few toys in his bed - typically talking to himself the whole time. He has to be alone to be quiet, though.

[Peplophoros]

Don't give in.  I'd even put up a tall gate to the room--you can periodically check on him when he's screaming to reassure him, but you're going to NEED that alone time when baby comes along.  Stick to your guns!  There's no way I'd give up quiet time.  It might be a rough couple weeks, but he'll get it.  A rough couple weeks is nothing compared to the months of much-needed midday peace.

[shawthorne44]

We put a lock on her door.  She screamed a bit at first.  But then when she physically couldn't open the door that stopped quickly.  We never took away the baby monitor, so we can hear her very well. 

[PeterPan]

Wow, it never occurred to me a dc would scream over this.  When my dd was little and I needed to nap (thyroid was crashing and I didn't realize it), I locked us BOTH together in a room so I could nap but know she was safe.  You could give them something quiet like an audiobook with earphones.

[Klwhelan]

My son stopped napping around 2 and we tried to do quiet time. In the begining it resulted in such a fit that I gave up. He ended up falling asleep around dinner time if I let him lay down. We then tried it again a couple months later and I made sure he had tons of books and stuffed animals in his room. Also, his lock was turned the other way when we moved in and we never moved it back so we had that. He is really good at self entertaining, so he finally got the idea and just played or 'read'. Eventually he even started napping again and now he naps 90% of the time. If he doesn't fall asleep he comes out after an hour and then goes to bed earlier. he turned three last month.

[Shellydon]

We never got quiet time to work.  Mine just destroyed their room, climbed dressers and needed stitches. :)  I would put something on TV and lay down on the couch so I could rest and still keep an eye on them (when I was pregnant). 

[T'smom]

If you really want to train them for quiet time, I'd do the timer with books to look at. If you really want a nap, I'd give them electronic entertainment. I'm in my 2nd trimester now and feeling much better, but when I really needed a nap, I'd give my 3 year old the iPad in her room. I didn't want her in front of the tV downstairs where she might get into something while I was asleep.

[reign]

If you really want to train them for quiet time, I'd do the timer with books to look at. If you really want a nap, I'd give them electronic entertainment. I'm in my 2nd trimester now and feeling much better, but when I really needed a nap, I'd give my 3 year old the iPad in her room. I didn't want her in front of the tV downstairs where she might get into something while I was asleep.

I opted for leapfrog for the kid and a nap for me. Now that the girls are older we still don't have quiet time. We have free time. Which basically means don't interrupt whatever Momma is doing. Clean up after yourselves when it's over.

[Bree]

I let my 3 year old lay on the sofa and watch a movie. Not perfect solution but it works for her. If she keeps getting up I make her lay in her bed. :)

[mama27]

My 2 1/2 year old hasn't napped in a year (she was always a horrible napper). We are really struggling with quiet time, and I am pregnant and tired and really need it. My 5 and 7 year olds happily read/look at books on their beds. I made special boxes for my 2 year old with toys she only gets during quiet time, but she lasts about 5 minutes and then the screaming starts. It's been easier to just keep her out with me, but then I don't get a break! Help!

 

 

a QUIET 2 year old? What is this blasphemy????

[dragonflyer]

My first gave up his nap at 2.5.  We transitioned to a one hour quiet time by turning on his music and setting the sleep timer to turn the music off after 1 hour.  He is allowed to choose any toys without batteries or books and put them in his bed at the beginning of naptime.  There have been a few fights over the last couple of years, but it blew over quickly if I just kept putting him back in bed.  He knows that he has to stay in bed until the music turns off (except for bathroom breaks).

 

Now my 1 year old will also stay in his crib during quiet time (he currently prefers a morning nap) and play with toys and books as long as his brother is also in the room.

[jkl]

Thanks, guys. I thought about using TV, but I try and save that for when I need some peaceful moments with ds to get schoolwork done.

 

If you really want to train them for quiet time, I'd do the timer with books to look at. If you really want a nap, I'd give them electronic entertainment.

This really struck a cord with me. Quiet time training it is!!

[athomeontheprairie]

Wow, it never occurred to me a dc would scream over this. When my dd was little and I needed to nap (thyroid was crashing and I didn't realize it), I locked us BOTH together in a room so I could nap but know she was safe. You could give them something quiet like an audiobook with earphones.

This is EXACTLY what I did when I was pregnant with my second. it worked fabulously. she could play quietly and I slept on her bed.

[Plink]

My mom bought my little one her own CD player when she was 3.  It is the BEST gift!  It is only allowed during quiet time, and she adores it.  She listens to audio books, dances to silly songs, practices for children's choir, and memorizes her math facts.  I am amazed at how she runs upstairs to play with it still after a year and a half.

 

Oh, and we only give her copies of the CDs because I want her to be able to switch them herself.  When one gets scratched I just burn another copy.

[Farrar]

I'm another that put a lock on the doors.  Our house has thin walls so if there was an issue, I could always come running.  Both my boys, once we had settled into the routine, got good at doing calm things - looking at books and drawing and playing with duplos.  And then, when they were toilet training, I stuck the potties in their rooms and it became the time of day they pooped.   :001_rolleyes:

 

One thing I did that was VERY helpful for one of my boys was that I made a special clock for his room.  We weren't organized enough to start quiet time at the exact same minute every day, so the clock had little pictures and no hour or seconds hand.  Whatever picture the minute hand was pointing to when we started (we would go in and check together at the start), when it went all the way around and pointed to it again was when the quiet time would be over.  He really needed that in order to understand that it was finite and not just a nebulous blob of time.

[Lori D.]

Like your dc, he stopped napping around 2.  I plop him in front of the tv with some lunch on his lap.  If you don't give him the lunch, he might get up and not even sit on the couch... It's not a perfect thing to put him in front of videos, but it's what we do. 

 

 

It's what I had to do, too.

 

Our 2 DSs were 20 months apart, and DS2 did NOT LEARN TO NAP until almost 1yo (we think now he was somewhat ADD, and also very delayed in developing the "filters" that allowed him to screen out sensory input, so he was overloaded and screaming non-stop every day, and couldn't relax enough to nap). And when he did, it was only one nap a day, and it was NEVER at the same time as DS1. And then at under 2yo, he stopped napping -- right at the same time DS1 stopped napping.  :eek:

 

My only recourse was putting both DSs on the couch with an hour of TV, with me curled around them so I would feel them get off the couch, so *I* could get a much needed nap. I really hated using the TV as a babysitter, but we did loads of videos from the library and our own collection "There Goes a Bulldozer" series, "Busytown" series, "See How They Grow" series, one on a year on the farm, and other non-fiction/educational videos.

 

In retrospect, it was a relatively short period of time (about 1-2 years), and then he was old enough he could do other things for 30-45 minutes for a quiet time. The ADD aspect made him so revved all the time as a little kid, we just had to keep busy for the most part, although he would listen to read alouds for LONG periods of time (often an hour at a sitting), as long as he had fidget toys.

 

 

:grouphug:  My sympathies! BEST of luck in finding a workable compromise! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[EmilyGF]

I try to have 90 minutes of quiet time each afternoon. When my toddler is having a really hard time napping, I let each child spend 30 minutes of their quiet time playing with him.

 

Also, I use a sleep sack for my toddler (turned around backwards) so he cannot climb out of the crib. He learned to climb out of the crib about 9 months ago without it. With the sleep sack, he is able to calm down and go to sleep.

[Shellydon]

a QUIET 2 year old? What is this blasphemy????

 

LOL.  Mine were never quiet either. 

 

[Meadowlark]

My 3 and 2 year old each have 1 hour of "playtime" each day. I depend on this time as its when I do math with my older two. The 2 year old is still in a crib, but here's what I do/did with the 3 yr. old. I have a 60 minute CD that I play (and rotate every other week) and tell him he has to play until the music stops. I have 5 bins in his room, one for every day of the week. Each bin is full of 2-4 books, an electronic toy, and 2-3 of some other kind of toys. I pull his bin down, turn on the music and shut the door. He knows to come out when the music stops and then he gets a snack. If he fusses, which is hardly ever, I will put a lock on his door. He hates that, so will comply. I think consistency is what makes it work. He also happens to be a very compliable kid. Now, my daughter? She may be another story. HTH!

[Elm in NJ]

He destroys the room. He jumps from dressers, beds. I have given up and he just hangs out with us , sometimes he watches tv while my twins are doing Biology. He is fast asleep by 7pm though.

[La Condessa]

My 3 and 4 year olds play dress up, have tea parties, play with Legos, look at books, listen to audio books, climb in their closet, and generally make a huge mess of their room. They also go through phases periodically where they will come out every few minutes and I have to keep taking them back. "Quiet time" at my house means that when I hear the thumps and bumps from my room, I will go tell them to quiet down.