Evolving Naptime
Naptime has been an ever-changing thing around here. The boys are slowly outgrowing the need for sleep in the middle of the day, but they (who's kidding here? I) need some down time. With two bedrooms and three kids, none of whom will nap well together, it's been an on-going challenge. I wrote some time ago about how Cora had taken over our front closet for naptime. Even that arrangement was becoming increasingly difficult. For one, the closet is in our living room. I couldn't shut the door tight for fear that she wouldn't get enough air, so I would sit in the dark in silence to keep from waking her. Meanwhile, the doors up and down our hall would slam, people would walk by just outside our door (which is beside the closet), and she would wake up. It was clear that naps in the closet were reaching their limit. And so, our poor over-worked little closet has been transformed again!
Cora has reclaimed her own room and her own bed. That, of course, displaced Thomas, who used to nap in their room. He sleeps in our room instead. Which displaced Henry, who used to read in our room. Does anyone else get the sensation that this is one of those word problems you used to solve in school??? So we have done what any reasonable parent would do: we've shut our four-year-old in the closet for an hour each day. The trick in parenting, I think, is to make something like that sound like an adventure. The closet has become his "Super Secret Reading Spot," although he prefers to call it his "office." He goes in obligingly each day to put in his time and, for the most part, stays inside the 2'x3' confines of his new nap space.
Not exactly your corner office (although it is technically in the corner...), but it does the job. Several jobs, actually, as you can see by the coats still hanging in the corner. The shelves above are full, too, but I cropped them out.
We added a little clamp light to the shelf (and fed the cord back to the kitchen, the nearest outlet, taping it down to the floor...). He has a cushy little reading corner, a cast-off end table, boxes full of books and craft supplies, and a clock to let him know when his time is up.
Here is his clock with a second "clock" marking the time when he can get up. We drew it on a laminated paper with a dry-erase marker so that it can change each day as needed.
This is his "wake-up" time for today.
The reading/resting corner.
I turned diaper boxes on their end and filled them with books, then tucked them under the table. Beside the table are pads of construction paper, coloring books, markers, crayons, and scissors.
Operation Make Naptime Work= a success! At least until the next phase....
Cora has reclaimed her own room and her own bed. That, of course, displaced Thomas, who used to nap in their room. He sleeps in our room instead. Which displaced Henry, who used to read in our room. Does anyone else get the sensation that this is one of those word problems you used to solve in school??? So we have done what any reasonable parent would do: we've shut our four-year-old in the closet for an hour each day. The trick in parenting, I think, is to make something like that sound like an adventure. The closet has become his "Super Secret Reading Spot," although he prefers to call it his "office." He goes in obligingly each day to put in his time and, for the most part, stays inside the 2'x3' confines of his new nap space.
Not exactly your corner office (although it is technically in the corner...), but it does the job. Several jobs, actually, as you can see by the coats still hanging in the corner. The shelves above are full, too, but I cropped them out.
We added a little clamp light to the shelf (and fed the cord back to the kitchen, the nearest outlet, taping it down to the floor...). He has a cushy little reading corner, a cast-off end table, boxes full of books and craft supplies, and a clock to let him know when his time is up.
Here is his clock with a second "clock" marking the time when he can get up. We drew it on a laminated paper with a dry-erase marker so that it can change each day as needed.
This is his "wake-up" time for today.
The reading/resting corner.
I turned diaper boxes on their end and filled them with books, then tucked them under the table. Beside the table are pads of construction paper, coloring books, markers, crayons, and scissors.
Operation Make Naptime Work= a success! At least until the next phase....
