Need Help with 3 Year Old and Naps

I have been in the same boat with my 3 year old. He needs the nap, I know, because without it he's a bear! Anyway, I refuse to fight over it anymore. I tell him that it's time to rest and that he is to stay in his bed until that time is over. Sometimes he falls asleep no problem, but other times he just kind of hangs out and plays in his bed. I put the gate up at his door so that he knows he is not allowed to come out (his door stays open), and then I go about my business and completely ignore him until rest time is over. That night, he goes to bed early, before his 1 year old sister, and we explain to him that he is going to bed early because he CHOSE not to take a nap. Doing this repeatedly, without change in my resolve, has made this time less conflicting and more effective. Most times now, he just lay down and fall asleep.

I agree with Tammie 100%. It's all about routine. There are days that my 3 yr old doesn't want to take a nap, so I will let him watch a show while laying in his bed for a little while and I'll tell him that when that show goes off, I will come and turn the tv off and turn on his "rain". (sound machine) Sometimes when I go back to turn it off, he's already asleep. Other times, I just turn it off, turn on his rain and tell him night night one more time. Then I go out of the room and close the door. His naps start at 2pm and go anywhere from 2-4 hours long. And when he doesn't get a good one, he's a total bear the rest of the day.
Good luck. I hope you find something that works.

Let her fight it. But put her down and leave her. She will go to sleep and you need to be out of the room. She will get to the point where she doesn't want to sleep and that is normal but make the room she sleeps in quiet and dark. if she likes music(soothing music) then play that. I have teenagers and a 2 year old niece and this worked for all of them.

It's so nice to see that I'm not the only one :) My 4 year old is exactly the same.

My mom told me that I did the same thing at 2. She said that finally after many months of struggling, she finally just told me that I needed to lay still in bed even if I didn't sleep. That gave her an hour or so to do whatever she needed to do. So I do that also. My 2 year old will sleep for 3 hours after lunch most days, the 4 year old lays there. And that's fine. And if I want to I can take a nap on the couch or fold a load of clothes or watch a grown up show or whatever or read a book I can. At 3 she should be able to understand when you tell her to stay put.

My mom had 4 to get to napping. She told us, that she didn't care if we slept, but we had to stay quiet in our rooms for an hour. We would always get bored and fall asleep. Now we can stay awake at nap time and we're 56-52

I've had the same problem with my 2 1/2 year old son. He's always fought sleeping and we've tried everything we can think of and were getting extremely frustrated and desperate. He would even stay up in his room and play with his toys and either not nap or stay up unitl 11pm! So, we ended up putting a lock on his closet door and locking up all his toys so there would be nothing he could play with. We will give him one chance to go to sleep and not come out of his room and if he does come out, we lock his door. He threw some pretty spectacular fits at first but he's learning now to stay in bed and go to sleep when we put him there. (Note: his door is within sight of us as we sit in the living room. We felt pretty guilty locking it but as soon as he's asleep, we unlock it. It's the only thing that has worked for us.) Good luck!

Every child is different, and this wouldn't work for some, but I let my 3 year old have a book to look at in bed, as long as he remains quiet. I call it rest time- he does fall asleep almost every time, but even if he doesn't, its at least an hour of rest for him (and me!)

My oldest had a hard time with transitions and thrived on routine. He is almost 10 and he still every now and then will jokingly say, "It's 2:00- naptime!!" because he remembers that from when he was little. Since a 3 year old isn't expected to tell time or understand what "2:00" means, try a routine that you stick to. For me, it was a PBS show that he watched (or I had on in the background while he played or we played together). When the show ended, he knew it was naptime. I would suggest coming up with a routine that fits into your schedule and lifestyle and do it for a half hour everyday before the time you want nap to start.

Make sure their room is childproof, do a routine, tell her its nap time, and that you love her. Remind her you're the mommy, and she's the child, and you make the rules and she follows the rules. I ask if they want their door open or closed, if they want it open, they have to be quiet and stay in bed. If they scream, I'll close the door half way each time, until its closed. (This trick also works with the touch light at night, every time they scream or get out of bed, I make the light darker)As a last resort, you can turn their door knob around and let her fight it out herself. Let her kick and scream, but only for a reasonable amount of time. Its okay to let her know you're there, but she's not getting her way and that you love her. Make sure you unlock the door after she stops screaming.

what we finally arrived at that worked with the younger two children is this. Mommy is tired too and everybody will have quiet time. IF you can play quietly in your room without making noise, you do not have to take a nap. All bets are off when they start making noise. Then the nap becomes non-negotiable. My 13 year old even knows that mommy has quiet time every day for 1 hour and he will read a book quietly while it is that hour. I work night shift so daytime quiet time isn't an option for me. When my children saw that I was not flexible on the topic and there was no negotiating or wheedling they learned to have quiet time also without battling it. (most of the time)

I agree with Tammi F, routine works for me as well. I also have a three-year old and we always have nap time not long after lunch. I tell her nap-time, tuck her in, give her a toy to play with until she falls asleep, and put on her "sleepytime" music. This works 95% of the time. Good luck!