[ollyvia]

Hi....

My daughter will turn 4 soon, and still have her afternoon nap afterschool -from 1400 to 1600, and in the evening she'll go to bed by 2100/2130. This way, first of all, she won't get cranky or fall asleep at about 5-6PM and I will also get some quiet time for myself to catch up on my own stuffs or just a short rest to continue until the end of the day (she has 2 younger sisters ). So you can see how we all need this little break in the afternoon.

The problem arises since she started going to school. We encounter difficulties in getting a playdate for her as almost all her friends have skipped afternoon nap, and in return finish the day earlier. They usually have dinner by 5-6PM and go to bed after that. So, by then time my daughter wakes up and ready to play, her friends are already returning home.

Can anybody share their experience with me? On one hand, I want her to keep taking her nap, but on another hand I want her to play with her friends as well.
What should I do?



Ollyvia

[scr]

Hi Ollyvia,

I understand how you must be feeling. Playing outdoors with friends is something of a challenge here in HK. Before you decide to stop your daughter's nap maybe you could first try to find someone who is still taking naps. Your daughter and you certainly seem to need the nap. If you fail at that I guess you could consider stoppping her naps. But you have to be prepared for come cranky difficult days. It would be better for her to give up that nap time herself. My son is younger than your daughter..will be turning 3 next month. He definitely needed his nap and so didn't get to play much with friends. But now he's given up napping - it just happened I didn't force it. And now gets to play. I thought it's better I have a well rested happy baby cause he would be very cranky and wouldn't eat dinner well due to tiredness if he didn't nap earlier. But now he's ok even though he doesn't nap and sleeps by 9:00PM which is early. When he used to nap he wouldn't go to bed till 11:00PM no matter how hard I tried !

[rani]

Ollyvia,

You can also try limting naps to an hour rather than 2?

Rani