Right now Ellie is in the awkward phase of, “I do need a nap but if I take a nap, I stay up until 9:00 and bedtime is hard.” So this week, we’ve been experimenting with Ellie not taking a nap. When she stays awake the whole day, she falls asleep in less than ten minutes around 7:00 pm and that makes for a much nicer evening for everyone (Ellie included).
No nap means a happy bedtime but it does not mean a happy mama during the day.
Enter, “Operation Quiet Time.”
Ellie is a little young to do an extended quiet time by herself but she has been surprisingly agreeable to having a quiet time in our bedroom that is mostly by herself. She does puzzles, builds towers, sings, reads books, and generally occupies herself for about an hour. On Monday, I also heard her saying, “Thank you LORD! Thank you LORD!” over and over! 🙂 I guess she appreciated the rest time!
She often comes out several times during quiet time to show me something or talk to me. I just remind her that quiet time is the time for Ellie to be in the bedroom and Mama to be in the office and she’s pretty good about going back to the bedroom to play.
the towers she built during her first ever quiet time
That hour is one that I desperately need during the day to just have some time to myself, and also to blog, answer emails, rest, nurse Mark in peace, sew if I’m lucky and be without two kids needing my attention.
The other beautiful thing about quiet time versus a nap is that quiet time can happen whenever I need it to. So once Mark is taking more consistent naps, I’ll just make sure Ellie’s quiet time coincides with one of Mark’s naps, preferably the afternoon one. I’m looking forward to that!
My ultimate goal (several years down the line) is for all of us to have about a 2-hour quiet time in the afternoon where we are all either sleeping, resting, or playing independently. I think it will be good for all of us to have quiet and rest as part of the rhythm of our day.
For now though, I’m grateful for an hour of [relative] peace and quiet during the day and particularly grateful for easy bedtimes again!
Salmon and Souvlaki 
Oh this is good to hear– thank you for sharing! I’ve wondered about quiet times as my ten month old is beginning to occasionally lose his morning nap. That quieter time has been crucial for my productivity (or at least showering!) He’s too young yet, but its super helpful to see what you’re doing as we look ahead!
Quiet time is definitely crucial for everyone! I was a bit panicked when it became apparent that we needed to drop the nap so I’m really grateful that quiet time is working out!
I love quiet time! We do a 2-hour quiet time every afternoon (older kids, of course). Since we’re together all day long, it’s a must for us. It makes our days flow so much more smoothly. Plus, we save certain activities just for quiet time which makes it something we look forward to doing.
PS: I showed the boys this picture of Ellie, and they said, “Ellie looks like a fun cousin!” 🙂
That’s just what I’m aspiring to, Karyn! What activities do you save for quiet time? Right now, I just put a bunch of toys and puzzles in our bedroom for Ellie and that’s special enough because we usually don’t have toys in there. But I know we’ll have to come up with something more soon!
That is so cool Laura! Hope your plan works out! I may need quiet time, too!! Perhaps Rick can play independently for an hour 🙂 just kidding!!
I think we all need quiet time Jana! 🙂
Hello…
Laura asked me to leave a comment here with suggestions for boys and quiet time activities. Currently my boys are 7 1/2 and 5 1/2. Here’s what our quiet times look like.
We have quiet time for 2 hours every afternoon. One boy is in their (shared) bedroom and the other is in my (and husband’s) room. They alternate days. For the first hour both boys lie quietly and listen to either classical music or books on cd (I get them at our library–a friend of mine mentioned there are some story type podcasts for kids, but I haven’t taken the time to figure that out yet). They can also choose to read whatever book(s) they’re reading at the time. We check out a pretty good sized stack from the library most weeks.
(Regarding books… My boys enjoy how-to and other non-fiction type books. For quiet time they especially like the Usborne and Dorling Kindersley books. Our library has a pretty good selection.)
For the second hour they can play quietly either on the bed or floor in their respective rooms. I have a box of “quiet time only” activities–things like puzzles, a zoo scene with plastic clings (re-usable stickers), colored pencils and art paper journals, some plastic people and sports players, etc. They can also pick whatever from the playroom (we don’t keep toys in the bedrooms) they might want to play with, but they know they have to play quietly–Lego is often something they pick for quiet time.
Please know a two hour quiet time didn’t “just happen” for us. It was a baby-step process when afternoon naps came to an end. In the beginning the length was quite a bit shorter. Every family is different. Do what works best for you and your kiddos.
Thank you so much, Karyn! I’ll send a link for this to my friend Cindy. I’m also grateful for this information for down the road a year or two more! 🙂
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