Do any of your Montessori programs have "nap time"?

[onlyboys]

I was wondering if any other Montessori programs have naptime... Our school does, and my son is having issues with it, and this is only day 2.

If there's a really profound reason for it, I'd love to hear it. Is Maria Montessori a fan of napping?

Thanks for sharing your insight!

[JuJu814]

It is required by law here

I know that to be licensed, state law, at least in MA and NH requires that a school have a rest time for the children. Our M. school does have rest time after lunch..but not for a long time. It is rest time..so they need to sit/lay down and be quiet, listen to music or something "restful"

Julie

[Lillianna]

Our school has nap time in the All-Day room. Children who are 3 and 4 are asked to go in and have nap after lunch. If they don't fall asleep they are free to get up and rejoin the group. How old is your son? What kind of issues is he having with the nap? (being noisy? moving around? talking to others?) He is also adjusting to be around all these new children. If your son doesn't usually nap at home, he may need time to adjust to this new routine. I feel that if the child can manage the rest of the day without wearing out and getting really crabby, I don't push the nap. Some children do need it though. I have had children who didn't nap at home when they started end up falling asleep first every day. They love the nap routine and after a busy morning, they are ready for the rest.
Maria Montessori wrote that children should not be forced to sleep in "The Child in the Family". This came up in this thread: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=409793 which might be helpful for you also.
Dr. M wrote that there was an hour long "siesta" at the children's house in Rome for children that were there all day. She discusses nap time in the book "The Montessori Method" on p. 120. "It goes without saying, that in the case of little children such a long school-day should be interrupted by at least an hour's rest in bed." She discusses having a dark, quiet room or "to have this nap taken in the open air" "In the Children's House in Rome we send the little ones to their own apartments for the nap". She does not state specific ages.

[onlyboys]

He's just not wanting to nap. He's very active, but not in a disruptive sort of way, and hasn't napped consistently since he was a year old. He's always been a terrible sleeper.

During nap time, the Kindergarten class is doing reading work, and alternating that with regular classroom work. I think the littles (3s and 4s) are laying in the same room. There's a tape playing of a story being read. He says that there's too much noise to fall asleep.

This morning he told me he didn't want to go to school if there is a nap involved.

[Delacroix]

Here, it's mandated that no school or daycare can make a child lay down for more than 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, they have to allow them to get up and involve them in a quiet activity.

[embers]

Zion (3.5) starts tomorrow... The way that I understand it is that here is that they ease the children into the rest area (with their own home-brought sleeping things) for and hour's rest. Children can sit quietly and read etc.. and if a child is just not interested in napping or relaxing, they can bump up and join the older children during that time. I hope this all does go smooth - my son NEVER NAPS (early to rise, late to sleep, no nap and happy as pie).

[RubyWild]

It's an option, but like all activities at my Dd's school, it's each child's choice given how he or she feels that day. I wonder if there are options at your school, aside from just lying down and trying to sleep. Maybe he could look at books?

[katydid6]

I haven't checked this forum in a while and just noticed your post. How is the napping going now?

I started a thread about this last winter. DD (3 at the time) was in a Montessori preschool that required the children rest for 1 hour. From day one DD had problems. They wouldn't let her have anything on her mat, she just had to lay there. Some days were better than others, but by February I'd had enough of the phone calls and notes home about her inability to lie still for one hour. Like you, DD hadn't been napping consistently at home for quite some time.

We ended up telling them that if they couldn't find a solution for one hour during the day for her, we would withdraw her from the school. By this point I felt like I had done everything I could to back up the teachers in helping DD learn what was expected of her. For whatever reason, this seemed to wake them up to our unhappiness, and from then on I didn't hear much about naptime anymore. I think they resorted to letting her "help" the teachers prepare things around the room while the other kids were resting.

We ended up moving out of state at the end of the school year and DD is enrolled in another Montessori program now. They do not have mandatory rest time, just an additional work cycle. DD is thrilled and the whole experience seems much more positive now.

I encourage you to have discussions with the teachers and the director about what they expect and what you think is appropriate. If they have any suggestions of things you could talk about with your son at home or things you could try on the weekends, give it a try. I will say that looking back I wish we had either moved her to another room or another school sooner. After months of hassle over such a small part of their day, it definitely changed DD's experience in an unpleasant way. She dreaded naptime and really began to believe she was difficult in the eyes of her teachers.

I hope things are getting better for you. Hang in there.

Angie

[onlyboys]

Actually, I followed his lead and let him choose. For two days, he napped at school, an hour each, so I thought perhaps he did need a rest. So, when he asked for me to pick him up at noontime, I did. Then we came home for napping (with the two younger) and he fell asleep here! The next day he told me, "Mom, it's just too boring at home."

Since then, no naps, but he does rest for 20-30 minutes. I think they are letting him have a book to look at.

He does LOVE Montessori, though. It's really working out.