5 year old just now giving up nap - anyone else?

[4Marmalade]

Does anyone else have an older child giving up their nap? My oldest was about 2-1/2 years old when he stopped napping. Dd1 seems to need more sleep and kept up her nap until about a month ago (she could skip a few days but overall still napped more often than she didn't nap). Since she turned 5 she has refused to nap. She says "5 year olds don't nap" . Little does she know how often 35 year olds want to nap

I'm just finding it so difficult to deal with a very tired, grumpy 5 year old in the afternoon. By dinnertime she is usually a wreck. The attitude, talking back, screaming, all those fun things that come along with an older child who is much more verbal. We have had to give up soccer because she physically couldn't make the 5:45pm start time because she would fall asleep on the 10 minute car ride there and then cry because she was too tired.

Today she actually fell asleep on the couch when she was watching me do a work out video. She had just finished a meltdown because I told her she could watch tv after I was done (only 30 minutes) so I guess that wore her out.

This is mostly just a vent. I know 5 years of napping is nothing to sneeze at but some days it feels crazy to be dealing with this overtired child giving up a nap rather than a typical 2-3 year old toddler giving up their nap.

[spirit4ever]

My 5 1/2 year old still naps if I'd let him ( I try not to, when he naps he actually gets less overall sleep cause he can't fall asleep at night) but if I let him he'd still nap every other day!!!

We deal with the supper time witching hour!

[Aufilia]

My 4 1/2 year old still NEEDS a nap, or she's a wreck by late afternoon. Since she overheard me telling someone that if she stopped napping I'd put her in afternoon preschool (it's a immersion program in the afternoon and her best buddy is moving to afternoons next year!) she has been intentionally trying to not nap. Fortunately for the last several days she's been napping again because I seriously could not take one more minute of her behavior.

[JayGee]

My six year old would nap most days if I'd let her ! She actually looks forward to Thursdays because she has gymnastics at 5:45 and I require a nap that afternoon so she's not exhausted and cranky during her class. I can't let her nap daily though, because it pushes bedtime back way too far. Plus, there isn't a rest time in the 1st grade schedule (she did have a rest time in Kindergarten last year).

[Hey Mama!]

My 5 year old still takes almost daily naps. Even if I don't set aside time for her to rest she'll just crash out at inopportune times like right before dinner. She will start kindergarten next month and I know she's going to be a tired, cranky mess for a bit until she can adjust to not napping for a couple of hours everyday.

[4evermom]

My ds still napped at 5. I think he went off naps over the winter and back on them in the spring when he was getting more outside time. He napped sometimes at 6 and could still use one some days. He'll fall asleep in the car if he's tired in the afternoon.

I did lie down with him for naps which helped because he wasn't feeling like he was missing anything. Maybe you can tell your dd that 5 yos have quiet time if they don't have naps? I used to try to time errands/outings so we had a nice car ride at a good time for ds to sleep. It helped even if it wasn't a full nap in bed. He had more trouble sleeping at night if he got overtired during the day.

[Lady Mayapple]

DS1 will be 5 in a few weeks and still takes a nap on most days. He can handle it if he doesn't get one, and during the regular school year he usually doesn't get one except on weekends. He is definitely more pleasant in the evenings if he has a little nap, or at least quiet time. Summers are a little different. The boys attend preschool from 8am to about 2pm, depending on when DH brings them home (he works there, so he can use his lunch hour to bring them home) I'm still at home with our 2yo dd, so afternoons are "quiet time", regardless of whether or not anyone sleeps. I need a break just like anyone else! Most of the time everyone does sleep, for at least an hour.

[4Marmalade]

Originally Posted by 4evermom

I did lie down with him for naps which helped because he wasn't feeling like he was missing anything. Maybe you can tell your dd that 5 yos have quiet time if they don't have naps? I used to try to time errands/outings so we had a nice car ride at a good time for ds to sleep. It helped even if it wasn't a full nap in bed. He had more trouble sleeping at night if he got overtired during the day.

We do have a quiet time but most of the time she doesn't fall asleep. SHe doesn't get really tired until about 3-4pm. Today she did have a 30 minute nap on the floor in her room. I avoid driving around at naptime because I would rather have the 2 year old twins having a nice long nap at home (rather than a 5 minute one in the car) then have dd nap at all .

Hey Mama! - My dd went to school part-time this past year and never adjusted to having no nap. She would fall asleep on the bus ride home and every school day I had to make sure to have an early dinner so she could come home, eat and hop into bed (around 5:30pm). It was crazy!

[ecoteat]

DD is 4 and still absolutely must have a nap every day. Usually it's 2-3 hours. Yesterday we were camping and she only got a 30 minute rest and although she was fine for the rest of the day, she was asking to go to bed an hour earlier than usual and was a beast all morning. She goes to full-day preschool 2 days a week and takes her long nap when she gets home--so she'll nap from 4-6:30 and then we start bedtime around 8:30-9, just like every other night. I can't even imagine what it would be like for her to not have a nap, but it's going to have to happen eventually! I'm glad she has another year before kindergarten so hopefully she'll have moved on from needing a nap to function.

[ChetMC]

I Wonder

I actually wonder if more children need naps and aren't getting them because of their lifestyle/schedule.

It strikes me that in a lot of kids' books written decades ago it's often mentioned that a four or five year old child is taking a nap. I know lots of people who remember having a rest time in kindergarten back in the day. And naps are a cultural normal for everyone in many countries.

Our second DD turns five in September and she will sometimes have a nap.

[nov05mama]

DS will be 5 in November and he still takes naps fairly regularly...at least 2-3 days a week, sometimes more. Usually he naps for 2 hrs every time. I have noticed that when we are more active in the morning and/or the day before, that day will lead to a nap. He stopped taking naps daily once he turned 4, but I don't see the few naps a week ending anytime soon though...I figure he will still be taking them for a while

[shelbean91]

My 6 yo still naps most days, even during the school year, he'd come home @ 3 and conk out for an hour or so. Strange for me as my first 2 quit napping by 2.