to think there’s something a bit sad about toddlers napping so easily at nursery?

😂😂 It is weird how 25 years of working with small children, all of them different with different needs, has actually made me quite good at it. Forgot the 4 years at uni and numerious courses with latest research during the years. Almost like magic.
Like most occupations.

I mean op you are entitled to your opinion but I never thought It was sad I thought it was cute seeing them all lay on their little mats :)

There’s something a bit sad about toddlers napping so easily at nursery?

Yeah, I hate it when my kid is worn out with fun and feels safe and secure enough to sleep in a different place and wake up to being well rested. It's literally the worst.

My favourite thing is being tired and having to wrestle an overtired, screaming toddler down for a nap.

Weird how people who have worked in childcare for years, work in a building dedicated to looking after children, and have qualifications in how to look after children, seem to be quite good at looking after children.

Also weird how doctors are better at being doctors than me, mechanics are better mechanics than me, pilots are better at flying planes than me, and how Amanda Holden gets TV work.

If children behaved at nursery as they do at home for their parents, rather than following the herd, there wouldn't be any kids for you to collect as the staff would have sold them all and done a runner.

Nursery is busy and stimulating, they have their friends and are active. If they sleep it is because they need to process what they've been learning. Depending on age not all will sleep. Most children behave differently with different expectations too. They always push boundaries with parents more and full time children push boundaries with staff more than part time children because of the increased familiarity.

That was mine! We used to call him 'Honeyson Who Would Not Sleep'.

I've worked in the wobblers room and it is hilarious. They have had a nappy change, a hot meal and a drink and they are told its time for sleep. Lights down, music on etc. They waddle over half drunk from food and fall onto their mats, some sleep within seconds. If you saw them an hour earlier they are so busy playing, exploring, running dancing laughing etc you'd know why they sleep so easy. They are burning up so much more energy than a child at home would. There is of course the herd mentality too, if everyone else is sleeping there is no fun in lying awake.

This. We often have spinach soup with boiled egg and home made bread, and most children love it. But the parents assume they haven’t eaten. 😄

Like all the exotic food they eat at nursery too!

My DS was such a fussy eater at home, I could have cried! Pick him up from nursery and he's eaten morroccan lamb with cous cous, beef stew with dumplings, chicken curry with rice and naan etc!

But I think it's mob mentality, they are all together with friends so they do the same thing together and save all the stubbornness for us! Gits! 😆

You never came back OP, what was the meaning of your post?

It's not sad. I think they all need the nap after a few hours of terrorising the nursery staff.

DS tried to give up naps at 2, I rebranded them as "quiet lying down time" which weirdly worked. After a few days of resistance, he merrily succumbed to going to his bed, being zipped into his sleeping bag, the lights turned off and door closed so he could have quiet time. I'd get a good hour out of this. Joyful.

I think those stopped when he was 4.

He did refuse to consistently sleep on his own at night until he was about 6 though. We used to have to fish him out of his sister's bed or he would appear in our bed in the middle of the night.

I don’t have any experience of this but I imagine part of is that not going to sleep can be a lot to do with not wanting to be separated from the parent or wanting to keep their attention, and at nursery those things are already out of play. I am not saying that is either good or bad, just that it’s a different situation.

Completely off topic, but this feels like a good time for this meme. 😁

The only sad thing when you pick them is them falling asleep twenty minutes before you need to pick them up and you need to wake them. 😭 Then spending the fours hours until 6.30pm trying to placate a raging bull. 20 minute nap today. 😭

It's just their nursery routine. Being wild beasts at home is part of their home routine.

Ex nursery manager here.
They like to join in with what others are doing. Nursery staff have more time to devote to it and nursery is more tiring than home.

Eldest never stopped at nursery and needed the nap. Youngest has fomo and never napped. Youngest spent lots of time ‘helping’ with paperwork and doing jigsaws while the rest of the dc napped.

Incidentally eldest could be transferred from the car asleep, and the youngest woke as soon as the engine went off.

Another post shaming working parents. Okay then.

like they’re out of their comfort zone/inhibited at nursery that they just lie down and comply

Going to hazard a guess that you've never stepped foot in a nursery during naps.

Lying down

Had a full busy morning at nursery playing and outside play…
Full up from lunch & pudding
Laying down comfy on a mat with a blankie in the dark

I struggled to stay awake many times as an adult