Nap-Free Zone

This weekend marked the first weekend in 5 years that we haven’t had a napping child!

Small Bro is 3 since July, and he may still be resistant to sleeping through the night but by god did he love his naps.

Right through lockdown he napped like clockwork, and the structure it gave to all of our days kept us ticking over nicely.

Big bro napped until he was just gone 3. The first couple of months of playschool he would get 40 winks after his lunch no bother.

Then of course bedtime became a drama because he wouldn’t go to sleep for hours so I had to cave & cut the naps. Small Bro was only 1 at that stage so he was still napping nicely at least once a day. No panic, there was still a daily window of peace, a reprieve from the madness of 2 small boys.

Since we got back into routine at the end of August, both boys are out the door to school/playschool, and any opportunities for naps midweek are long gone.

September evenings were long & stressful.

October evenings were frought with frustration and fights.

November is more manageable so far, and hopefully will continue to improve.

Weekend naps were hit & miss but we always managed to get him down one of the days, and it was a valued breather for all of us.

For the past 5 years, naps have been the cornerstone of our schedule & routine & life in general. I was never militant with timings, and they didn’t always play ball, but our days centred around who needed sleep, and how best to make sure that sleep was had.

Now it seems this is a Nap-Free Zone.

So every single day is an edurance test from 7-7 (all going well!) with no breathers…

That kinda terrifies me a bit…! Especially facing into long dark winter weeks.

But I also see it as a big milestone on our parenting journey. Another sign of how these small humans are growing & changing day by day.

I relished those naps & needed the time even more than the child did. God knows I never overworked myself while a child was in bed… overate yes, overworked, definitely not!

But we are all ready and able to move onwards & upwards now.

And surely soon it will be acceptable for the parents to start napping??

Let’s hope so!

They owe us…!