As I mentioned in this recent blog post, Toddler Adams has ceased having an afternoon nap. It’s making life at home a little tough because she is so tired.
Elizabeth is great during the mornings. Just yesterday we had great fun playing games. She was given a toy doll from a family member for her birthday and we had to feed it and put it to bed (okay okay not everyone approves of such toys but she really likes this one).
Come the afternoon, however, and she begins to flag. If we’ve been driving somewhere she has, once or twice, nodded off in the back seat. On these occasions I’ve tried to put her down for a small nap on our return home. This doesn’t work. Having figured out how to open her bedroom door, she climbs out of bed, opens the door and reappears at my side five minutes later.
When it comes to bath and bed time, well, that’s it, we enter Tantrum City. Elizabeth has always been the more vocal and demonstrative of our two girls. Being the second child she has had to shout louder for attention so I guess this is common.
Nonetheless, full on tantrums were something of a rarity. Not any longer. Come bedtime, she is so tired that tantrums are inevitable and they are very loud. While guaranteed to happen at bedtime, they will happen once or place during the day too.
The funny thing is the tantrums don’t bother me as much as I thought. I’ll offer a hug and then leave her to it until she has calmed down. Anything else just seems to wind her up even more.
I’m guessing it’s because she is so tired. As she’s not napping in the afternoons, I have, as a temporary fix, introduced film time.
Regular readers will be aware that I dislike using screen time to entertain the kids. It’s clear, however, that Elizabeth needs some time to be quiet and calm and watching Frozen or Wall-E before having to dash off on the school run seems to be the lesser of two evils. It keeps her calm, quiet and entertained for a short while.
I have also spoken to Mrs Adams and Elizabeth’s pre-school. We’ve got to cross the Ts and dot the Is, but all are agreed that her hours will increase next year to two and a half days a week.
I may actually get some housework done when this happens. Even when Toddler Adams is watching films she still needs me. Sometimes she asks me to sit with her and that makes it hard to do the domestic stuff.
Have you got a toddler? Can you relate to this? How did you cope when nap time initially came to an end? Also, do you think this is an appropriate use of screen time?
Pic credit: Majovols. Reproduced under Creative Commons agreement.
5 thoughts on “End of nap time; two weeks and many tantrums later”
My kids all dropped their naps very early – the boys were just turned 2 and my daughter was SEVENTEEN MONTHS. Funnily enough, I don’t remember it ever being a problem (maybe I’m just seeing it through rose-tinted glasses). The main problem I remember was that nursery and my mum, who looked after them, still forced them to sleep because they were so young (and no doubt the carers wanted the break), which turned them into absolute monsters when they woke up.
Sounds like a perfectly good use of screen time to me! You’re in a transition period and it’s a halfway between sleep and full-on active. As she adjusts to not sleeping, she won’t need it any more (she may want it, but that’s another story!).
Seventeen months….well that is very young indeed. Funny how the nursery and your mum still insisted on a nap. Just shows how we all handle these things differently. We may introduce a brief nap later in the afternoon as she keeps nodding off at about 4pm. In the meantime ‘though, film time remains for the sake of my sanity and Toddler Adams’.
I was lucky that I didn’t have tantrums from Kayla when she stopped having naps but I do remember how demanding she was at that age & how exhausting it is. Screen time is a great idea, it gives her a little downtime from you too – I don’t mean that in a bad way, it gives her something to focus on & relax. The one problem I did have was separating Kayla from her dummy, don’t even get me started on how much I hated her having one of those, but we let her watch a DVD at bedtime, always a soothing film nothing exciting & she still watches a movie at bedtime now she’s 8. I feel this gives her time to unwind & get out of her own head before she goes off to sleep. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but it works for us and at the end of the day that’s what it’s about, if it works then it’s ok. But like you said it ring stop her needing you constantly it’s an exhausting age & you are handling it great & you know what? If the housework doesn’t get done well that will be fine too xxx
*wont not ring
Very kind words Jayne. I can assure you the housework is being completely ignored! Just yesterday my wife got the full on tantrum treatment from Toddler Adams. She now sees what I’m up against and I think she gets why the housework ios being ignored. Interesting point you make about Elizabeth needing time apart from me. I hadn’t thought of that but it makes sense.