help! nap or no nap for 4 yo?

[foodiezen]

Ds is 4. He goes to daycare and was napping 1.5-2 hours daily. With this, he drags his feet going to bed at night. It was getting exhausting for me and encroaching on my time---dragging out to 9:30+ pm at night. And then he would not want to get up in the morning. So I asked the daycare to stop napping him. Now he is bed by 8 pm. Out like a light!!! Now he started to say how tired he is and wishes he could take a nap again. I'm feeling ambivalent. Would appreciate any advice. Is this typical.? Does it get better for him? I'm loving the earlier bedtime but don't want him exhausted. Any word of wisdom would be appreciated! Tia, Katherine

[wellyes]

It sounds like he is naturally transitioning from his nap. Give him a few quiet, low key activities during his old nap time. No outings or big projects. I read chapter books to DD, or let her watch tv, stuff like that.

[Tinochka]

I stopped fighting naps with my DS1 since summer. I tried to quite the nap time even before, so he can play with his friends, who do not nap, but then I saw how exhausted he was and cranky. We went through the errors and trial. We made a deal with him, that he’ll lay down, when I am putting DS2 for a nap, so I don’t have to fight him, then we go quietly downstairs. It’s mommy’s quite time too, so, he can play on his own or look through the books, sometimes if we saw his friends outside, he joined them, sometimes we sort laundry with him. I just watched him behavior wise. If the days were hectic and it was difficult to wake him up in the morning, then we discuss 45 min. in bed laying, which usually lead to sleeping.
How practical is it to put him to bed a little bit earlier? I change the setting on the clock (color code), when I need and he sees that it’s dark outside. May be he can catch up on some week-ends days for naps? He is clearly transitioning, but it takes time.