Should my kindergartener still nap on weekends?
Stopping weekday naps for kindergarten leaves children overtired and cranky by the evening, but allowing weekend naps can make it harder for them to adjust to their new routine. Parents are left wondering if letting them sleep on weekends slows down the transition or if waking them up early causes a disaster.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1letting the child nap on weekends for 1-3 hours to help bridge the gap
- 2trying to keep them up on Saturdays to see how it goes
- 3moving up bedtime by 30 minutes
- 4Walking with a stroller to do pickup while the baby sleeps in short bursts
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Our five year old still napped most days all the way up until kindergarten and now of course that’s not an option during the week. He’s definitely been grumpier at night during this first month without those naps.”source ↗
“I’m starting to wonder if these naps making it take longer for him to transition to nap-less during the week?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 5Why is getting kids out the door in the morning so hard?
- 17How to handle an out of control kindergarten class
- 3How to help a seven-year-old with sleep anxiety
- 6How to set up playdates when you're too busy and don't know other parents