Saying Goodbye to Naptime *Sniff*

It had to happen eventually, but I’m not sure I’m ready for this.

We’re saying farewell to my son’s naps; a reluctant farewell.

Since my 4 year old started preschool in September, fitting in naptime has become more trouble than it’s worth. By the time we get back from preschool and have lunch, unless he falls straight asleep his nap window is too small, making him understandably grouchy when I have to wake him to go fetch my daughter from school. So we started giving naptime a miss on preschool days. Then on the days where he was having his afternoon nap at bed time he would lie awake for over an hour banging and bumping around his bed. Take away the nap and he falls straight asleep. He just doesn’t need that much sleep any longer.

I should be grateful: I’ve got over 3 ½ years out of it. Some parents aren’t so lucky and naptimes become a thing of the past at age 2.

I swear, without naptimes rookie moms would not survive the early years. I know I wouldn’t have. There can’t be many SAHMs out there who at the demise of nap time rejoice: ‘Yay, I get to spend more time with my kid!’

Naptime is precious. Naptime gives you a chance to recharge your batteries. Naptime gives you an hour or two ‘off duty’. A mom’s sanity relies upon having a little ‘Me Time’ every day. How you use that ‘me time’ is your business, but be sure to use it wisely.

In the early days naptimes are necessary for survival. ‘Sleeping when the baby sleeps’ is the only way a rookie mom can catch up on some much-needed rest. And once Baby has settled into a regular nap routine this can mean a pleasant hour or two block when mom can catch some zzzzs. Of course there’s no such luxury when you’re on your 2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th child, so rookie moms: make the most of it! When my daughter was around 1, her afternoon nap meant snuggling on the sofa together, watching Baby Einstein until we nodded off. Bliss. Later, when I’d paid back enough of my sleep debt to be able to forgo an afternoon nap myself, naptime was when I wrote The Survival Guide for Rookie Moms. My son’s naptime these past 2 years with my daughter at school means I can watch reruns of Grey’s get some work done.

When naptime comes to an end, not only do you lose that precious ‘me time’, you also have 2 more hours a day to fill with activities. It’s not acceptable to swap naptime for 2 hours’ TV watching or Wii playing is it? Is it??? I guess not. Playing with kids and keeping them amused is exhausting; mind numbing sometimes. Maybe we’re not supposed to want to do anything other than keep our kids entertained. But I do. I want to go online and mess about with the blog, Twitter, facebook, and catch up on email exercise my brain. It’s a bit of an addiction, but it’s important to me.

Naps do have their disadvantages: they can start to rule your life if you have to have your kid back in his bed by 1pm daily; days out are complicated by having to consider where the little one will nap when the time comes. But on the whole I’d say there are more pros than cons.

Yesterday was a l-o-n-g day. There’s no preschool for my son on Monday and my daughter has an after school club which means we don’t have to pick her up until 4:20. That’s over 7 hours of me and DS, 1 on 1. Phew.

I’m definitely not ready for this.

Posted by Lorraine Regel
http://survival4moms.com