The Naptime Book. Cynthia MacGregor

      Introduction: Even Without the Closet Monster

      Bedtimes and naptimes. They share so much and yet in ways they are dissimilar, too. In both cases, you are trying to get a child to go to sleep—primarily because the child needs to rest and secondarily because (let's be honest), you need a break too! When your child is down for a nap, you can catch a nap yourself—or at least catch your breath, maybe get tonight's dinner started, or “pick up” the living room so it no longer looks like it was visited by a deranged tornado. (See the chapter, “Time Out for Mom, Too!” for a little more on the subject of making good use for yourself of your child's naptime.)

      Kids resist going to bed at night for many reasons. Fear of the dark—and of the imagined bugaboos that await in that darkness—is a prime one. On the other hand, very few kids fear naptime because of “the closet monster” or “what's under the bed”; in daylight, these kinds of terrors recede. Another reason that lurks behind resistance to going to bed at night is fear of having a nightmare, but very few kids have nightmares during naps.

      Yet, even without being concerned over closet monsters and nightmares, many kids resist going to bed for a nap just the same.

      Why is that?

      One big reason—and it's an operative in avoiding nighttime bedtime too—is the fear of missing something. What are you going to be doing while your child is asleep? What's going to be happening in the house and in the world out there that he's not going to be aware of while he sleeps? You may say, “I'm just going to be resting, myself,” or “I'll only be in the kitchen, starting dinner,” but that's scant reassurance to an active four-year-old for whom every audible fire siren and every squirrel on the tree branch outside the window is an adventure. Even the prospect that Barney or Blue's Clues might come on the TV while he sleeps—and misses it—is devastating.

      You can't in clear conscience promise him unconditionally that nothing exciting will transpire while he's napping. You don't know what neighborhood excitement will erupt, what friend will ring the doorbell, or what else might occur during that time.

      The best you can do is make lying down for a nap seem appealing and pave the way for him to relax and rest. And that's basically what this book is about.

      Studies state that sleep is important for all of us but especially for kids. The average preschooler needs nine hours of sleep a night, as well as a nap during the day. And I surely don't have to explain that a nap is as important to his disposition as it is to his health! What parent hasn't had to deal with a cranky child who's out of sorts or out of control due to missing a nap or having a nap curtailed?

      The aim of this book is to offer you ways to make naptime easier. It's a two-pronged plan: You need to induce your child into getting on her bed in preparation for a nap; and you need to get her to relax once she's there, so she can fall asleep.

      In this introduction I'll discuss ways to ease the naptime struggle. Then I'll suggest some activities that you can engage in with your child in or on the bed. These activities have a dual purpose: