Season 2, Episode 5
NAPTIME PROBLEMS SOLVED (Part 1) — Your Kids Are Tired, But Here’s Why They Don’t Sleep…
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Your Kids Are Tired, But Here’s Why They Don’t Nap…
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I am so excited to talk to you about naptime…
because it can be such a high stress time, if things aren’t going well …
I’m going to show you how to make it calm and relaxing– so that you can get your work done, because your kids will actually sleep.
I know that this is a big promise.
But I really think that once I show you a few small adjustments to make that you will see a huge difference in the way that your kids respond to nap-time.
And that is how we move away from the problems and towards a much happier, calmer, more enjoyable, rest time for everyone, especially you.
The nap-time struggles are very real.
Because naptime is usually part of the day where we have to get a few other things done. So the stakes go up, we naturally get more stressed when kids start misbehaving. Because we're holding papers that we have to finish cutting, or we have a bulletin board that we need to get done, or you know, the millions of things that we're trying to finish while our kids are sleeping in that short amount of time.
And even more important than that– the kids are tired!!
So what I'm about to show you is going to help you actually get your kids to sleep.
And that's going to make for a better naptime.
But also a better afternoon, happier kids happier you.
One of the schools that I taught at actually said, that nap-time was our planning time. Like in the older grades, the kids were supposed to go to specials, and then those teachers had their planning time. But they were like, “You guys have nap-time, and you're in your room for that hour so go ahead and use that as your planning time.” 🙄
>>> Which is ridiculous.
But it forced me to try things and figure out what would work to make naptime a productive time, for me and for my kids.
And I found out – that actually– those two things were very linked, I couldn't be productive, if my kids were miserable.
Basically, I couldn't get anything done if they were all just laying there hating every minute of it.
I was able to turn nap-time into something that my students enjoyed. 👍🏿👍🏻👍🏽
And this is kind of the key here– the secret sauce:
Once you can get them to stop resisting the nap, stop fighting the quiet time…And you can get them to accept that rest time is just a quiet time, where we let our bodies relax and rest up o that we can be ready for all the fun we're going to have this afternoon…
Everything changes.
They stop having those negative emotions, and they're able to feel calm and relaxed.
And the best part is that once they feel this way, most of them will fall asleep.
So let me explain more…
In the beginning, I always had, most of my kids fight the urge to sleep. Tell me if you're in the same boat. It's like they're all tired, but they don't want to fall asleep.
I don't know if it's just like the FOMO like the fear that they're missing out on something… or if it's the unfamiliar space, and they just keep their guard up so that they can't fully relax.
But whatever the reason, they'll start messing around and doing things just to keep themselves awake.
And this is where the problems start.
They start whispering to the kids near them or they start touching everything on the shelves where they're laying.
And this is when you start to get annoyed and the more kids that start these little misbehaviors the more frustrated you get.
And it doesn't work to go around and try to put out the fires by telling them to stop touching stuff or stop talking.
Why? Because you really have nothing to backup what you're saying during that time.
So you could drop empty threats, but they know that there's not really much you can do.
And once you start taking things away you're gonna really see the misbehavior amp up.
Because that makes them feel yucky, they don't want to be threatened.
They don't want to miss out on stuff.
But they also just don't want to sleep right now.
So let's take a whole different approach.
Here's the bottom line, we need to get them to lay still on their mats while we get a few things done.
And because they're all exhausted at this time, even if they act like they aren't — we want them to sleep.
And I'm about to share the changes that I made, that you're going to be able to try with your kids.
Because once I was able to go this route, I had pretty much every kid sleep in my classroom.
Even the kids whose parents say, Oh, they don't nap anymore, those kids will sleep too!!
And this is not me forcing anyone to sleep or trying to make kids do anything that they don't want to do.
I totally believe that school is exhausting for these little guys. And by nap time, they could use a little power nap - yes, all of them.
I mean, I know I could use a nap, right around that time, right?
We're all exhausted, it's the middle of the day.
So my strategy is to create an environment where students feel at ease.
And then they can fall asleep.
How do I do it?
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Ok, so I’m about to tell you how you’re going to get your kids to fall asleep during naptime…
First, you set the mood.
You want your room to feel super calm and relaxing.
I dimmed the lights a lot, I'd have one or two low lights in different areas in the room.
And even where I would sit at my desk to work was basically dark, I would have like a little strand of Christmas lights on…
Because removing the light is a big factor in making kids feel calm and sleepy.
If you have the bright overhead lights on, your kids are not going to be able to get into this calmer, sort of relaxed and ready to rest state.
And there's also a chance that turning off the lights could make your kids feel scared, BUT NOT if you do it the way that I'm explaining.
Kids feel calm in low light, if you create a mood that feels peaceful.
You just don't just walk around and flip all the lights off and it goes black and everybody freaks out.
No, no, no!
This is a gentle transition into the calm rest time setup.
So my kids would nap after they would be at lunch and recess. And so when they would come back in, the mood was already set…lights were dim, aside from a few strategically placed lights that are low, so they won't keep kids awake…But they can still see where they're walking.
And yes, the room is pretty dark. But once you add in a few of these other factors that I'm about to talk about…It won't be scary, it'll be calm.
So the lights are dim. And then you also want to play calming music. There are tons of versions of rest time meditation lullabies on YouTube and Spotify.
There's a great one for kids meditation– There's a channel on Spotify, by SADA meditation for kids.
They have a whole playlist and it’s great because there's a calm voice that talks to them in a gentle tone and walks them through a visual meditation.
It's like, “close your eyes. Feel your breath. Imagine that you're a caterpillar, Caterpillar laying in the sun.”
And it does these little five or 10 minute meditations that are perfect for the kids to follow along with ... they are these little visual kind of stories and it's just very calming.
So I would always start with one of those to give those kids with busy brains, something to focus on.
And then, after one of those - I would just have like calming instrumental lullabies — just peaceful nap time music.
And I also had a box fan that I would turn on during that time.
It's just like with a baby — having that noise machine or just like the sounds in the background helps them to fall asleep.
So it's not SILENT —because when it’s SILENT, they're reacting to every peep that they hear in the classroom!
Once they hear that fan and the calm meditation — It almost gives them permission to be in their own space. They quit worrying about what other kids are doing, and what I'm doing. Because those distractions are all drowned out. And they are just able to lay there and be at peace with themselves.
So I definitely recommend a box fan, or some kind of other noise machine to just make some sound in the background, I promise, it's super helpful. And there are other things that I do to make the space feel calm and peaceful.
You really want to change the way that they feel about nap-time.
And there are a few specific ways to do this:
First, I use a Magic Spray.
If you aren't familiar with this technique yet, you need to bring it to life in your classroom!!!!
I have a whole YouTube video where I explain Magic Sprays.
The Magic Spray for naptime, is basically just a calming spray...
That helps them calm their bodies down.
The one I used was a pretty blue little spray bottle-and I will fill it up with water and a drop or two of perfume or essential oils.
I also put glitter in it to make it feel fancy.
We use other magic sprays in our classroom, too – we have a smart spray, a friend spray, there's all kinds of things you can use magic sprays for.
My Naptime Magic Spray (Helps to CALM Them Down!)
But you tell the kids that this is a very expensive spray. I don't know why, but they love hearing that it's expensive… For some reason. They’re like “oh wow.” And you tell them that you bought it because it's very special, and it will help them to calm down.
And then you can go around and give them each a spray. I just spray it above them and let them lean into it. Just a gentle, soft scent.
And then each day at naptime, I would come around and tuck each kid in.
And this is important because you want them to feel loved and seen and at ease.
And by coming around like this, they will make them each feel special.
And they will come to look forward to that little moment when you come to see them.
And it doesn't take long to do this – just a few minutes.
But it's important because you're also covering them up with their blankets.
**Having a blanket on top of them is part of them feeling cozy
and being able to fall asleep.
So I would cover them up and I would ask them if they would like a spray of Magic Spray, and they almost always, say “yes.” And I would spray it up into the air and they would just be laying there and kind of take a few breaths to breathe it in.
So they're calming their bodies naturally by taking deep breaths of that Magic Spray.
Now, we're about five minutes into nap-time.
✔ I've gone around to tuck in every kid - covered them up, offered them Magic Spray…
✔ They're laying there in the dark, cozy room snuggled up…
✔ They can't really hear the other kids because of the fan.
✔ They're listening to the visual meditation, about being a caterpillar eating food.
And, and then I send one or two kids who have occasional accidents to go use the bathroom.
You can really get this part of the day dialed in to be a very smooth running well oiled machine as you get to know the needs of your kids and just little things that each kid needs to feel ready For rest time, it's not too much to do.
