We all know that having a child who is tired doesn’tresult in a good day.

But children will often object to the idea of taking a nap;especially if there is something interesting going on around him.

When I was a registered child minder and had a child who needed to take a nap I would pre-warn them, for example, after this story I am going to take you upstairs for a nap. That way a child has time to process the idea of going down for a nap.

Then when I was ready to take the child to my cot, I would get her to say “night, night” ( even though it was daytime) to the other children and they would say it back. The child would also say it to anyone else in my house: My husband and own children if they were around, including the dog and looking through the kitchen window to say it to the rabbits in their hutch.

On the odd occasion when I only had one child we would say “night, night” to a bird in the tree; you get the general idea- that the child has time to slowly wind down before being laid down for their nap.

Some children would have a cuddly toy to snuggle up with and others liked my musicial mobile that was attached to my cot.

Children often fell asleep while we were out., either in a buggy whilst out walking or in the car.

If it was in a buggy it was no problem as I would bring it into the house and get the other children to do a quiet activity and if they fell asleep in the car I would carry them indoors and place om my sofa in the playroom.

At some point a child will need to stop taking a nap if it interferes with night time sleeping more on that here

More on bedtime routines here

As always questions and comments are welcome.

Until next time.

Karen

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