Have you ever had a parent ask you to wake their child up early on a daily basis? I have a soon to be 5 year ol DCB that mom asked for next fall to wake him up early so he can be prepared for no naps in kindergarten and so he will go to bed easier. I do understand her point but I also feel that if he is still sleeping he is obviously in need of the rest. Also naptime is my Breaktime and time to get stuff done. While he is well behaved and I'm sure will not be a problem I feel a little reluctant.

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If he's too old for naps he's too old for your program. If your program is set up for nappers, no I would not change the way I operate for one child. As nannyde says, you can just tell that parent, "I'm sorry, I don't offer that service" or offer it for a fee.

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If a five-year-old is napping for a long time in day care and the parent doesn't want that, the parent needs to adapt their own schedule so the child gets enough sleep at night.

If you don't want him awake during your scheduled nap time, then he needs to move on somewhere else, but you can still help him out.

I'd tell the parent, "Jimmy is napping because his body needs the sleep. Waking him up before he's rested isn't going to adapt him to a no-nap schedule. The only way to do that is to ensure he's rested enough at home before he comes to day care."

Then ask what time he goes to bed, what time he gets up, whether he's waking himself up in the morning or whether the parents are waking him, and whether he sleeps through the night. Ask if he sleeps alone in his room or if there's somebody else in there. Suggest blackout curtains, a sound machine, bedtime moved back gradually (30 min. each week), a cool-down period with no screen time, etc. Put the responsibility where it belongs: the parents.

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Whenever a parent has asked me this I always say that my program requires an hour of rest time. If a kid doesn't sleep in that hour they are permitted to sit quietly and look at books until rest time is over. For that hour they lay quietly on their beds. If they fall asleep they remain sleeping until napmtime is over. No exceptions. I tell them that if they are having issues falling asleep at night they need to move bedtime up an hour. This is what I did with my own kids too.

If a child is not tired they will not fall asleep! I had one child who was 5 and she would rest for the hour and then get up and read books for the rest of nap time. I had no issues with it because obviousky her body did not need sleep. Every body needs rest though.

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IMHO 5 is getting old for a nap and I bet he doesn't go to bed easily. I would still require a quiet time too. Being who I am I would wake him early if he fell asleep but he'd have to lay quietly playing with quiet toys or play quietly at the kids lunch table.

An older child who is up has to be quiet. I won't tolerate waking the other kids.

I've had a few over the years whose parents requested this and it worked out.

When I've had school age kids they don't nap and I've had five school age kids play very quietly during nap.

I NEED my break but I have two dedicated child care rooms and I sit in my living room for my break with the door open to nap room.

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Here I just say, "no child is forced to sleep, but everyone has a rest time. No exceptions. If a child falls asleep during that time, they need that rest and I will not wake them. I understand public schools do not offer naps/rest but, I do not run my program like public school. The best way you can prepare your child for that setting is by having a consistent routine during the day and for bedtime. Would you like some information on how to support that?"
Then if they still push, a simple "I'm sorry, no naps/rest is not a service I offer. Would you like to pick up at 12 or put in your notice?"

Rest/nap is my only quiet time during the day, the kids NEED it and well, bottom line is the parents don't dictate how I run our day.

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