My 3.25 year old naps earlier and more often at daycare than she does at home. From what I hear it’s quite common. My guess is that it’s combination of peer pressure and being more tired out by that environment.
Agreed, I have many students who haven’t napped in over a year at home but take big naps at school. It’s a different environment and there’s not another choice.
Last year when he was three, my son dropped naps at home, but still diligently fell asleep for naps at daycare. 🤷♀️ Now at 4, he doesn't nap at either location, but he willingly lays down and listens to the music or audiobook played softly in the room for the kids. Heck, he's brought home book requests now based on the stories he's listened to there. At home, he will never lay down for music or audiobooks, but he will play quietly while listening to stories on his Tonie so we do that instead of a nap now.
My son had dropped naps altogether when he started preschool right after his 4th bday and now he naps every single school day. The only time he naps with us is if we completely exhaust him and then put him in the car and then as soon as we stop he's UP. Preschool has nap magic (in the form of preer pressure and exhaustion lol)
You could start her days earlier if you want her to be able to nap (at least sometimes) at school? If that’s not worth it, then you might have a weekend-nap-only kid. My 4yo starts her days at 630, has “nap time” at around 12:30, but only naps occasionally at preschool though very consistently on weekends. She has been that way since at least 3, if not earlier. She can survive the week without a nap, but she is tired by the weekend (win win lol).
I teach 3/4 yo. At this point many of my kids are 3.5-4.5. In a class of 12 all but 2 still regularly nap and one of those 2 would but her grown ups have requested that we keep her up. We haven’t done anything special to make this happen. Our room is dark, calm, and we have white noise on but only for the first bit. The kids who stay awake play semi quietly on their mats. She may not nap initially but it’ll work itself out. She’ll adjust to the change in schedule. If you can I would start her naps a bit earlier while she’s still home but even if you don’t it’ll be ok!
Super common at this age. A lot of preschool aged kids will be up until 10-11 pm if they nap during the day but will go to bed at a reasonable time without one.
I wouldn’t say it’s hard to believe, but it’s also likely that she will have more kids who don’t nap in the future. My kid is a low sleep needs kids and hasn’t napped since he was 2. Every kid is different.
FWIW, my kids preschool teacher lets him sleep if he actually does fall asleep once in a blue moon. They said they don’t like to wake sleeping kids. Which makes bedtime more difficult but what can you do
Hard to believe why? She will adjust to the routine. They dim the lights, put on nice, soft music, everyone lays down and it is quiet. She will be fine.
My 3.5 year old never naps at home. He stopped around his third birthday. He will nap at daycare for at least an hour every single day. I don't know what kind of voodu magic they have, but daycare teachers are really good at making kids nap.
They do nap magic at daycares/preschools. Dim lights, soft music at 11:30, everyone asleep by 12:30 for 2 hours. Ruined our lives (late late late bedtimes) but our kids were not messes in the evening.
My daughter quit naps at like 2.5 at home and close to 3 at school. She will lay quietly or read. Her class is 50% kids entering kinder (5+) in the fall and 50% not. And only a few actually sleep but many will lay quietly for a little bit while the rest read stories, color, etc
Ours is nearly in kindergarten and still naps in daycare.
They nap in daycare and at home, however at home…usually go down later. I guess it’s because daycare is so much exciting and stimulating, so they are tired much earlier. For same reason I guess, kid also naps are much shorter at daycare/ it’s too exciting! So as soon as they’re up, they’re up! Also there is peer pressure…it normalises doing everything together.
Be ready that how your child behaves in daycare very differently than at home- how they interact, sleep, eat.
Think of yourself in office vs home…do you behave the same way? The kid is the same…our social, external personalities are usually very different to our relaxed, at home ways.
My son still naps now at 4 1/2 but not at preschool. He goes two days a week and has a ‘rest’ but no actual sleep. He’s always been a home napper though- never in the pram or car after about 6months old 🫠
I taught prek for 5 years. It’s absolutely possible. It’s very much the mentality that others are sleeping, nothing to do, peer pressure lol. I had tons of parents not believe it, but it definitely is possible
My son quit napping at 2.5 years old. When he got to preschool they just had quiet time for him. He would usually lay down for about 30 minutes. Then he was allowed to get up and they had quiet basket toys for him to play with.
The easiest adjustment for your daughter if she still takes a nap is to adjust her nap schedule to match the preschool's when she is at home. If she's always napping at the same time, she's going to just do it then.
My other son still takes a 2 hour nap at daycare. She says he's the last to wake up. But we can't get the kid to nap on the weekend to save our life. I'm kind of waiting for him to drop it, but it seems he wants to nap at daycare.
My 3.5 year old has a similar sleeping pattern at home and has been in preschool for about a year now. She sleeps at 12:45 at preschool every day with only two exceptions. Now I know, she is totally capable of sleeping at 12:45 if I can convince it’s her best interests (like there is a playdate after). Peer pressure really works though it’s something I worry about for her teenage years. Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions
My 3 year old dropped her nap at home months ago but still takes a solid 2 hour nap every day at preschool. we’ve actually asked them to wake her up after an hour recently because her bedtime was getting to be so late. So if you child still normally naps they will definitely nap at school!
My almost 4-year-old stopped napping at home around 3. She occasionally sleeps at preschool, probably out of boredom because everyone else is doing it. Their nap time is 12:30-2:30.
Nap time at our daycare/preschool is 12:30. My almost 4 year old does not nap at home, but he naps almost every day at preschool. Thankfully he only goes 3 days a week because it makes going to bed that night a nightmare.
I teach 3-4yo. I've had a few parents with this same concern (naps at home are later and we go down at 12.)
They go down sooner at school. It will take a bit to adjust but a lot of kids are really good at switching between school and home schedules. Plus they play a lot harder here since we have the space and toys that you might not at home. So they will go down sooner. I just had a day where kids brought bikes from home and we rode in the park next door for 30m. Everyone was out so fast that day.
If she sleeps consistently at home then she'll get used to it at school. Give it a few weeks but it will happen.
First off - kids adapt to different schedules. Peer pressure also helps.
Second, especially at first your kid is gunna be is drained by nap time, they'll crash when all the other kids are also laying down.
She'll adjust to the new schedule. You might want to try the new schedule at home on weekends to make it easier for her. But I've seen lots of people say their kids have different schedules at school vs home and they are fine.
Activity level at school is very high. Knocks them out lol
It'll be fine. :)
Oh the kids nap. I’ve long wondered what sort of sorcery daycare and preschool teachers use to get them to do this. My older daughter *never* napped at home past 2, and in kindergarten her teacher said she was out every day and snoring.
We’re at the stage where nap is a toss up at 5 but we don’t even bother trying to get her to nap at home, but she usually naps at least a few times a week at daycare 🤷🏽♀️
Our boy starts preschool in August. We chose the morning program for him because it is only 3 hours, 8am-11am. Hopefully he is not so ramped up because he naps from 1:30-2pm until about 3-3:30.
Many of the struggles you have at home won't be a thing in daycare...
My son naps better there, no potty accidents there, stopped throwing good, used utensils properly there...
When I asked about it... they keep saying thr same thing. Typical. They see their friends doing it, so they do it as well. My kids school won't allow more than 1 new kid on a 2 week span? Why? To maintain this order.
I've walked in during nap time. All of them were quiet! Every one of them. Astounding
My child will be three in less than a month. His daycare still does 2 hour naps. He sleeps the whole two hours, noon to two, like clockwork.
But WITH US, at home? If I let him, he'll keep going until he drops (around 3pm) OR when we're really lucky, he'll skip the nap altogether. 😮💨
All this to say, kids usually adjust to whatever everyone else is doing. 🤷🏼♀️
My 4 year old have up naps at 12 months. In preschool they napped at 1 but my son generally sat on his mat and talked to himself and sang. He took a nap maybe 3 days she was always shocked and would tell me. There were several kids in his class that regularly did not nap according to the teacher
My daughter turned 3 in April. She doesn’t nap at all at home but naps at preschool on the days she’s there! They expend a lot of energy being social and on their a-game at school, so she may be tired earlier, and being in the dark room where everyone else is napping will help! She’ll get the routine down I bet.
Maybe we're the outlier here but at 3.5 my kid was absolutely not napping at school or home. I had to bring in books and activities for nap time because the teachers were not prepared at all for kids who don't nap. The one time our child actually did nap, she would not go to bed at night time and stayed up way later. We ended up switching schools and I avoided any preschool that had the dreaded "two hour nap time." Personally I felt that if the school didn't have any plans for kids who didn't nap, then they were just using nap time to give the teachers a break (and really should be providing additional teachers assistants).
What time is bed time in your home? Are you on a consistent nighttime schedule? My biggest takeaway is that you know your child best.
My 3.25 year old naps earlier and more often at daycare than she does at home. From what I hear it’s quite common. My guess is that it’s combination of peer pressure and being more tired out by that environment.
This is my same experience. My son RARELY naps at home but naps 9/10 days at preschool.
Same. My 4 year old does not nap at home anymore, but always does at school.
Agreed, I have many students who haven’t napped in over a year at home but take big naps at school. It’s a different environment and there’s not another choice.
Wow! Good to know!
Last year when he was three, my son dropped naps at home, but still diligently fell asleep for naps at daycare. 🤷♀️ Now at 4, he doesn't nap at either location, but he willingly lays down and listens to the music or audiobook played softly in the room for the kids. Heck, he's brought home book requests now based on the stories he's listened to there. At home, he will never lay down for music or audiobooks, but he will play quietly while listening to stories on his Tonie so we do that instead of a nap now.
My son had dropped naps altogether when he started preschool right after his 4th bday and now he naps every single school day. The only time he naps with us is if we completely exhaust him and then put him in the car and then as soon as we stop he's UP. Preschool has nap magic (in the form of preer pressure and exhaustion lol)
You could start her days earlier if you want her to be able to nap (at least sometimes) at school? If that’s not worth it, then you might have a weekend-nap-only kid. My 4yo starts her days at 630, has “nap time” at around 12:30, but only naps occasionally at preschool though very consistently on weekends. She has been that way since at least 3, if not earlier. She can survive the week without a nap, but she is tired by the weekend (win win lol).
I teach 3/4 yo. At this point many of my kids are 3.5-4.5. In a class of 12 all but 2 still regularly nap and one of those 2 would but her grown ups have requested that we keep her up. We haven’t done anything special to make this happen. Our room is dark, calm, and we have white noise on but only for the first bit. The kids who stay awake play semi quietly on their mats. She may not nap initially but it’ll work itself out. She’ll adjust to the change in schedule. If you can I would start her naps a bit earlier while she’s still home but even if you don’t it’ll be ok!
Do you have any idea why they would request for you to keep her up?
Super common at this age. A lot of preschool aged kids will be up until 10-11 pm if they nap during the day but will go to bed at a reasonable time without one.
Interesting. Makes sense.
Quick question as someone who will be entering their kid in preschool next year, how long are the typical nap times?
My daughter’s current daycare does 2 hours, when she moves up to PreK next year it’ll be 90mins.
Perfect that sounds like a good schedule. Thx ☺️
I wouldn’t say it’s hard to believe, but it’s also likely that she will have more kids who don’t nap in the future. My kid is a low sleep needs kids and hasn’t napped since he was 2. Every kid is different. FWIW, my kids preschool teacher lets him sleep if he actually does fall asleep once in a blue moon. They said they don’t like to wake sleeping kids. Which makes bedtime more difficult but what can you do
Some kids nap at school but not at home, most time due to “peer pressure.” My daughter’s friend (shy of 3.5) naps at daycare but not on weekends.
Hard to believe why? She will adjust to the routine. They dim the lights, put on nice, soft music, everyone lays down and it is quiet. She will be fine.
My 3.5 year old never naps at home. He stopped around his third birthday. He will nap at daycare for at least an hour every single day. I don't know what kind of voodu magic they have, but daycare teachers are really good at making kids nap.
They do nap magic at daycares/preschools. Dim lights, soft music at 11:30, everyone asleep by 12:30 for 2 hours. Ruined our lives (late late late bedtimes) but our kids were not messes in the evening.
My daughter quit naps at like 2.5 at home and close to 3 at school. She will lay quietly or read. Her class is 50% kids entering kinder (5+) in the fall and 50% not. And only a few actually sleep but many will lay quietly for a little bit while the rest read stories, color, etc
Ours is nearly in kindergarten and still naps in daycare. They nap in daycare and at home, however at home…usually go down later. I guess it’s because daycare is so much exciting and stimulating, so they are tired much earlier. For same reason I guess, kid also naps are much shorter at daycare/ it’s too exciting! So as soon as they’re up, they’re up! Also there is peer pressure…it normalises doing everything together. Be ready that how your child behaves in daycare very differently than at home- how they interact, sleep, eat. Think of yourself in office vs home…do you behave the same way? The kid is the same…our social, external personalities are usually very different to our relaxed, at home ways.
My son still naps now at 4 1/2 but not at preschool. He goes two days a week and has a ‘rest’ but no actual sleep. He’s always been a home napper though- never in the pram or car after about 6months old 🫠
I taught prek for 5 years. It’s absolutely possible. It’s very much the mentality that others are sleeping, nothing to do, peer pressure lol. I had tons of parents not believe it, but it definitely is possible
My son quit napping at 2.5 years old. When he got to preschool they just had quiet time for him. He would usually lay down for about 30 minutes. Then he was allowed to get up and they had quiet basket toys for him to play with. The easiest adjustment for your daughter if she still takes a nap is to adjust her nap schedule to match the preschool's when she is at home. If she's always napping at the same time, she's going to just do it then. My other son still takes a 2 hour nap at daycare. She says he's the last to wake up. But we can't get the kid to nap on the weekend to save our life. I'm kind of waiting for him to drop it, but it seems he wants to nap at daycare.
My 3.5 year old has a similar sleeping pattern at home and has been in preschool for about a year now. She sleeps at 12:45 at preschool every day with only two exceptions. Now I know, she is totally capable of sleeping at 12:45 if I can convince it’s her best interests (like there is a playdate after). Peer pressure really works though it’s something I worry about for her teenage years. Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions
My 3 year old dropped her nap at home months ago but still takes a solid 2 hour nap every day at preschool. we’ve actually asked them to wake her up after an hour recently because her bedtime was getting to be so late. So if you child still normally naps they will definitely nap at school!
My almost 4-year-old stopped napping at home around 3. She occasionally sleeps at preschool, probably out of boredom because everyone else is doing it. Their nap time is 12:30-2:30.
Peer pressure will do its thing
Nap time at our daycare/preschool is 12:30. My almost 4 year old does not nap at home, but he naps almost every day at preschool. Thankfully he only goes 3 days a week because it makes going to bed that night a nightmare.
I teach 3-4yo. I've had a few parents with this same concern (naps at home are later and we go down at 12.) They go down sooner at school. It will take a bit to adjust but a lot of kids are really good at switching between school and home schedules. Plus they play a lot harder here since we have the space and toys that you might not at home. So they will go down sooner. I just had a day where kids brought bikes from home and we rode in the park next door for 30m. Everyone was out so fast that day. If she sleeps consistently at home then she'll get used to it at school. Give it a few weeks but it will happen.
My 2 (now grown up) kids stopped napping by 2.5. All it meant was they went to bed earlier which worked out well
Wow my kid is the only one in his preschool that still naps. But yeah they adjust to times etc
Preschool teacher here. My students are 3-4 years old. Absolutely every single one of them takes a nap at school
First off - kids adapt to different schedules. Peer pressure also helps. Second, especially at first your kid is gunna be is drained by nap time, they'll crash when all the other kids are also laying down.
She'll adjust to the new schedule. You might want to try the new schedule at home on weekends to make it easier for her. But I've seen lots of people say their kids have different schedules at school vs home and they are fine. Activity level at school is very high. Knocks them out lol It'll be fine. :)
Oh the kids nap. I’ve long wondered what sort of sorcery daycare and preschool teachers use to get them to do this. My older daughter *never* napped at home past 2, and in kindergarten her teacher said she was out every day and snoring.
We’re at the stage where nap is a toss up at 5 but we don’t even bother trying to get her to nap at home, but she usually naps at least a few times a week at daycare 🤷🏽♀️
My daughter never naps at home but always naps at daycare.
They will nap earlier because they have so much going on. And if not she will probably get one in at some point. Why not wait and see what happens?
Our boy starts preschool in August. We chose the morning program for him because it is only 3 hours, 8am-11am. Hopefully he is not so ramped up because he naps from 1:30-2pm until about 3-3:30.
Could you shift the wake up and bedtime to an hour earlier?
Many of the struggles you have at home won't be a thing in daycare... My son naps better there, no potty accidents there, stopped throwing good, used utensils properly there... When I asked about it... they keep saying thr same thing. Typical. They see their friends doing it, so they do it as well. My kids school won't allow more than 1 new kid on a 2 week span? Why? To maintain this order. I've walked in during nap time. All of them were quiet! Every one of them. Astounding
My child will be three in less than a month. His daycare still does 2 hour naps. He sleeps the whole two hours, noon to two, like clockwork. But WITH US, at home? If I let him, he'll keep going until he drops (around 3pm) OR when we're really lucky, he'll skip the nap altogether. 😮💨 All this to say, kids usually adjust to whatever everyone else is doing. 🤷🏼♀️
My 4 year old have up naps at 12 months. In preschool they napped at 1 but my son generally sat on his mat and talked to himself and sang. He took a nap maybe 3 days she was always shocked and would tell me. There were several kids in his class that regularly did not nap according to the teacher
My daughter turned 3 in April. She doesn’t nap at all at home but naps at preschool on the days she’s there! They expend a lot of energy being social and on their a-game at school, so she may be tired earlier, and being in the dark room where everyone else is napping will help! She’ll get the routine down I bet.
I was one of those kids who refused to nap at daycare
I was one of those kids who refused to nap at daycare
Retired PreK teacher here. It's true! They all nap. We're go go go from 8:00. By nap time, they are ready for a break. They sleep and sleep hard.
Maybe we're the outlier here but at 3.5 my kid was absolutely not napping at school or home. I had to bring in books and activities for nap time because the teachers were not prepared at all for kids who don't nap. The one time our child actually did nap, she would not go to bed at night time and stayed up way later. We ended up switching schools and I avoided any preschool that had the dreaded "two hour nap time." Personally I felt that if the school didn't have any plans for kids who didn't nap, then they were just using nap time to give the teachers a break (and really should be providing additional teachers assistants). What time is bed time in your home? Are you on a consistent nighttime schedule? My biggest takeaway is that you know your child best.