How to Transition from Nap Time to Quiet Time?

to me when they start fighting it is when i change the terminology. i would go from announcing "it's nap time!" to just saying, "it's quiet time. you don't have to go to sleep, but you MUST be quiet. if you are not quiet, then it's time for a nap." if they are really fighting it then that should help them stay quiet. our rules, honestly, vary, depending on how tired i know he is and what i think he needs. he may not be that tired - i will tell him that for quiet time today, he must stay in his room and play quietly. if i am more tired than he is, i may put him in my room on my bed with me and let him watch a movie while "I" take a nap lol. or if he's just beat then "it's nap time" and he just goes to sleep. but - mine is almost 6, AND has never had trouble with naps. the only time he fights it is when he truly doesn't need one.

at 3 and 4, yes, i would enforce them being IN bed, and quiet. lights out too, but maybe one toy or book if they aren't too tired. but at 3 and 4 i believe they still need naps. calling it "quiet time" around this age almost always still led to an actual nap, at our house. but i know all kiddos are different.

mine is starting kindergarten next week and we still take naps more often than not :) but he CAN go without if necessary. so it's nice.

Quiet time in our house was, stay in your room, with the lights off, listen to cd of music or a book on cd.

She could look at books, or play quietly for an hour.

As she got older, I used to tell her, mommy needs a nap, you can come and read to me, or you can stay in your room. she could not actually read till she was 4, but she would do her version of reading. Many times she fell asleep.

Must be quiet and IN your room for O. hour.
Do the 3 and 4 year old share a room?
What about "quiet movie time" and a 60 mom DVD?

Everyone goes to their room and if they are not laying on their bed resting they get in time out. If they know you are not going to do anything about the noise they know they don't have to do what you say.

So, get the little one down then put both kids in the bedroom and make them lay down. Lay down with them if you have to. It will do you some good to rest too. Then if they are being noisy or starting to wind up you are right there to stop it.

I failed miserable at quiet time with my oldest. She dropped her naps around her 2nd bday. I insisted on quiet time, with two rules "you must stay on your bed and you must be quiet." She never took a nap, ever. So we switched her quiet time to video time around her 3rd bday. I was so sick of having to go into her and say "please be quiet." I realized that not all kids really need that nap.

Around her brother's second bday, he too decided he was done with naps. He went immediately to watching videos with his sister. Occasionally when he is tired, he will take himself off and nap. It's great. When he needs it, he just goes and has one. Otherwise, he joins his sister for video "quiet time."

It's about total sleep. My kids get all of their sleep at night, so they don't need a nap during the day. In fact, on the rare days my son takes a nap, he is up to 10 at night.

When I did quiet time, we did 60 minutes. Now they watch videos for 60 minutes.

My point, for every mommy that swears by naps till kids are 5, there are mommys like me that prefer that their kids get their 11-12 hours at nighttime (so they aren't bouncing off the walls till 9-10 at night). You are going to have to figure out what works for you and your kids. If they fight quiet time, you might need to figure out something else. I have a friend that does "reading time" in the living room. What's important is that they get about 60 minutes of solid down time. If they aren't getting down time during "quiet time" in their bedrooms, you have to figure out where they can unplug and rest. The TV (the idiot box) works great in my house.