older kids making noise while while babies are napping

[elus0814]

We have a six year old girl, five year old boy, 21 month old boy, and 4 month old girl. The toddler takes one nap every afternoon and the baby takes two or three shorter naps. The older two are homeschooled and are generally well behaved but when the younger two are napping they make so much noise. I think they know they have the upper hand because if they make noise it wakes the babies up. I try my best to not give in when they're making noise in order to get something but when the options are dealing with two cranky babies by myself while housework needs doing or giving them a tv show, piece of candy, whatever, guess which I'll choose? I've tried playing with them, doing crafts, and so on but nap time is my only chance to get much of anything done all day. We can't go outside because I'm not able to hear the babies even with the most powerful monitor I can find and they can't play outdoors alone (a child was pulled into a van a construction worker on our street even though it's a good neighborhood). They even manage to make noise while we're reading or doing schoolwork. I'm at a loss, any suggestions?

[JulianneW]

Get a noise maker for the napping babies room. The buzz of a fan or humidifier can also work depending on if its loud enough to drown out the other noises.

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Definitely get a sound  machine for the baby's room.  I love those things.  

But, I'd probably let the older kids watch a show during nap time.  It can be quiet time for everyone.  Not all shows are bad, some you can get from the library have several episodes on one dvd and no commercials.  

[elus0814]

some kind of white noise is a good idea although I'm not so sure it would drown out yelling, I'm ok with a show or two but naptime is generally 3-4 hours - way too long for anyone to watch tv

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Originally Posted by elus0814 

some kind of white noise is a good idea although I'm not so sure it would drown out yelling, I'm ok with a show or two but naptime is generally 3-4 hours - way too long for anyone to watch tv

OH wow.... 3-4 hours is too long for them to be quiet too though.  I can't keep myself busy for 3-4 hours without making noise.  

My husband had surgery this spring.  He came home, and slept.  Then, the next day, he spent about 4 hours sleeping, and I had to find things to do that wouldn't wake him up.... yet, stay nearby in case he needed me.  It was unbelievably hard.  I watched tv.. I played Wii... I swept floors.. I downloaded new music into my Itunes... I thought I was going to lose my mind.  And, that was only one day!