3 y.o. Not Going to Sleep

It might just be a phase she is going through, and with the summer days so long right now, maybe it's just harder for her to fall asleep. You could try some room darkening window shades, or try putting her down earlier (like 7pm) but if she is staying in her room, behaving herself, and not crabby like she's overtired during the day, I don't think it's really a problem. There have been nights where my daughter agrees to go to bed, but just isn't ready for sleep yet, so I let her look at books and read for a while as long as she stays in her bed and isn't calling out for me for one thing or another. She's almost 6 now and she's usually out within 15 to 20 minutes.

Try getting her up earlier and moving her nap time to earlier in the day.
Some would say she doesn't need a nap anymore but our son napped till he was about 7 yrs old.
He was one grouchy kid in the afternoons through most of 1st grade because he could only nap on the weekends - they didn't have quiet time in school anymore like they had through kindergarten.

Doesn't sound like a problem as such, since her mood and wellbeing aren't affected, and since she isn't causing trouble, but staying in bed. If you are really keen on getting bed to equal sleep, take note of what time she actually goes to sleep (sounds like 10pm). Then for a week, don't actually put her in bed till 10:30. She'll be so tired, she'll be asleep before her head hits the pillow. This helps cement bed = sleep. when she is consistently going to sleep quickly after going to bed, you can start peeling back bed time, by 15 minute intervals until she has an 8 bedtime once more.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

When my kids were little and had this problem I found that putting them to bed *earlier*, not later actually helped. Maybe that's worth a try? I actually ended up putting one of my kids to bed at 7pm and she crashed right away. If I put her to bed at 8pm she was up forever! Of course, it's hard to do this in the summer when it's so light outside. And I often got pressure from my MIL or friends who wanted to hang out (and didn't understand when I wanted to get my kid in bed!) But you gotta do what works for you, you know. So I did. And the going to bed earlier thing worked.

Hi, S.Mom:
What time do you put her to bed?
Does she take a nap during the day?

How do you know how long it takes for her to go to sleep?

Just wondering.
D.

She might be ready to give up her nap. I'd try with skipping the nap every other day.

My oldest napped til he was 5, but my middle son started to drop it at 3.

What time does she get up in the morning? How much sleep is she getting in total? A three year old is a pre-schooler and needs less sleep than a toddler. By the age of three both of my boys had given up naps and were sleeping about 10 hours a day total, from 10:00pm to 8:00am. It is summertime and still daylight outside at 8:00pm. I would move her bedtime later.