3-year old stopped napping, but no quiet time!

[terbear72]

I have recently come to terms *sigh* with my 3-year old daughter dropping her afternoon nap. For the past month, she has been told if she doesn't nap, that's fine, but she needs to stay in her room for quiet play time. She has toys, books, and dress-up clothes at her disposal. Plenty to occupy her while I work out in the basement or clean the house. Problem is, our upstairs hallway is very open and she tends to run out yelling, "Mama, where are you? Mama, can I come down? Mama, I don't want to stay up here!"

As a "bonus", a few times a week she will actually nap, but doesn't fall asleep till 2:30- 3pm which makes for a very late bed time.

I get that she's a 3-year old and is pushing every boundary possible. I just need some ideas of making her stay in her room. I'm not comfortable with turning the lock around on her door, but I'm ok with putting a gate outside it. I also read maybe some soft music on a timer might work. Any other ideas?

Thanks ahead of time!

Terri

[familycastle]

My dd stopped napping at age 1. I thought I was going to die, but I decided to embrace it, and push a bedtime of 6:30pm. From that time on she never napped, but went to bed early and has always slept 12 hours. I really don't mind it. Everyone is different, and some kids just don't need the nap/down time.