To Wake or Not To Wake

[Country Kids]

I have a couple of preschoolers who still nap but are starting to stay up longer and longer before falling asleep. Sometimes they will literally fall asleep 15-30 min before it is time to get up. Would you let them sleep till pick up or go ahead and wake them up with everyone else. Pick up is anywhere from 4:00-4:30 and nap time is over at 3:00.

I may put this question in my next newsletter and see what the parents are wanting. Most of these children though are BEARS if they don't get a nap or a full nap. I'm thinking of us staying outside another 1/2 an hour to get them super tired but then I have some who can barely make it till nap time without getting upset and then falling asleep while I'm making lunch.

[littlemissmuffet]

I have a couple of preschoolers who still nap but are starting to stay up longer and longer before falling asleep. Sometimes they will literally fall asleep 15-30 min before it is time to get up. Would you let them sleep till pick up or go ahead and wake them up with everyone else. Pick up is anywhere from 4:00-4:30 and nap time is over at 3:00.

I may put this question in my next newsletter and see what the parents are wanting. Most of these children though are BEARS if they don't get a nap or a full nap. I'm thinking of us staying outside another 1/2 an hour to get them super tired but then I have some who can barely make it till nap time without getting upset and then falling asleep while I'm making lunch.

I highly doubt that ANY parent will want their child sleeping past 3:00-3:30pm... they'll complain they won't sleep at night!
The latest I let my kiddos sleep is 3:30pm!

You might just have to wear them out more before nap time

[Blackcat31]

Nap time here is done at 2:00. Everyone gets up at 2:00. Whether you fell asleep 10 minutes before that or 90 minutes earlier when you laid down.

Everyone up at 2:00.

[KEG123]

Kids here nap from 1-3. If they aren't up by 3:15-3:20 I wake them, regardless of when they actually fell asleep.

[daycare]

I have a few kids who do this. If I wake them they will literally turn into the devil. So at 3:30 when nap time Is done I jut walk over open the blinds curtains and turn on the lights
Usually they are up within a few minutes

[Hunni Bee]

If I have one who just fell asleep right before nap ends...I try to allow waking them up be the absolute last thing I do. I wake up everybody else, get everybody pottied, clean up mats, fix snack and then wake them up. That buys them up to 30 extra minutes, but that's it. Usually they're still grumpy even then, but I say, "See how tired you feel? That's because you just fell asleep a few minutes ago. Tomorrow let's try to get to sleep when you first lay down."

Then the next day, I remind them "Remember how tired you were when you woke up yesterday? Why don't we try to get to sleep now?"

Somehow it works...but only for usually good nappers.

[cheerfuldom]

I hope someone posts more ideas on why this type of thing is happening in the first place because my preschooler has gotten bad about this. she wants to nap like 4 to 5 instead of 1 to 3. she has been so whiney and sobby in the evenings and I would love some advice on this. It doesn't seem to make a difference what we do in the morning unless she is literally running the WHOLE morning and thats just not possible. She's 3.5. any ideas?

[Abigail]

I would ask parents individually what time they go to bed and wake up including weekends. We have one family who has kids who just don't sleep well at night so they're first ones down for nap time at 12:30 and sleep til 3:30 and we wake them before 4 everyday if they don't wake up after we turn lights on at 3:00 or 3:15 and everyone else is playing and eating snack in the same room being loud.

[Meyou]

I wake them up at the normal time....I might give them an extra 30 minutes if it was yucky out and we were just staying in but normally I wake them. I have two that sometimes don't nap so if they are super cranky in the afternoon and are having trouble controlling their temper, tears, hands etc etc etc I tell them to go lie down and rest for a bit (20 min) and then they can rejoin the group. That usually solves most of the cranky behavior, either because they try not to be a bear or they are lying down away from the group.