Why is giving up a nap so hard for him at 4 years old?

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DS1 is now 1 month beyond his 4th birthday and doesn't like to nap. I am far beyond insisting on one but if he goes more than 3 days without one, he wakes up a bear and is totally exhausted by the 4th day and simply will not get through the day without the nap. This throws off his bedtime of course. I only allow a 1 hour nap from about 1:30 - 2:30pm. He will fall asleep exactly 1 hour later than usual on these days. Is this usually the way it goes, because alot of people have said that for their kids, giving up a nap was much simpler. (P.S. This has been going on for almost 5 months now - where he still naps a few times per week).

Does it matter that he still has a nap - and does it matter that he falls asleep at 2.30 not 1.30?

it is a stamina building process. when the nap is completely dropped it is hard. maybe you need to shift it to an extra day befor ehe gets one then another until he is so used to getting through the day without one he doenst need it. just put him to bed earlier on the last day of the cycle ie the one he would have had a nap. it is very hard to get through this stage but they need to be use to living without one when they start big school...

DS1 gave up proper daily naps at 2.6years but even now at 4 he still gets tired and will always fall asleep in the car.

He's still only little and they exert so much energy they do get very tired.

Why do you only allow a nap between 1.30 pm and 2.30 pm?

Just be thankful your DS isn't a summer baby. When my DD is 4 years and a month she will be in fulltime school.

I guess I only allow a nap in the early afternoon because I don't want him going to bed too late - then it really throws everything off (since he'll get up same time in the morning regardless of bedtime). As I mentionnned, even with a 1 hour nap in the early afternoon, he'll be up an extra hour at bedtime. I don't necessarily have a problem with any of this (although it probably sounds like alot of complaining), I was just wondering how long this process will go on. After all, it's been 5 or so months already and I'm just surprised he hasn't done away with the nap entirely by this age (especially since many friends have kids who dropped the nap cold turkey).

Nowwearefour - thanks for the suggestion. That was what I was thinking - that as time goes on, he should be able to last more and more days in a row without napping until finally he does without one. The thing that may be prolonging this is the fact that he's had one cold after another these last months. I bet if it was summer, he'd be doing better.

It just sounded a bit strict when you said you only allow a nap between 1.30 and 2.30 pm.

I understand completely that having a later nap will alter his sleep pattern that night.

We are in the process of getting DD to give up her nap. She is 2.5 years.

She does need a nap but if she has an hour she wakes a couple of times in the night. So I let her sleep, but wake her up after 20 or 30 minutes. She is vile when she wakes but it seems to be working for us.

Is there an activity you could go to in the afternoon that would stop him from sleeping. Maybe a playgroup or preschool session or just going to a friend's?