“Sleep later or” has been a part of preschool life for decades. PHOTO: Sprinkle
After lunch in kindergarten, compulsory bed rest is provided. Many children hate it from the bottom of their hearts, and eventually their parents do too. After all, if the child falls asleep in kindergarten, entertainment is usually taken care of at home in the evening. But is an afternoon nap really necessary? And what can you do if you face its consequences every day at home?
Terezka is a cheerful and active almost six-year-old Prague girl who hasn’t slept even after lunch since she was two. Hence, she does not sleep at home or on vacation. If she goes to kindergarten, it’s almost a rule that she closes her eyes for a few tens of minutes after playing around for a long time. “Well, and then I can’t put her to bed in the evening,” she says resignedly about her mother, also Tereza. “She’s still jumping around ten, she always gets out of bed and goes to drink, sometimes she’s hot, sometimes she’s cold, and eventually I have to sleep with her and many times I fall asleep before her. When she has to get up early in the morning to go to kindergarten after falling asleep like that, she is often with tears. This is how we stumble all week and it will be leveled again on the weekend. “
In the nursery school in Terezča, bed rest, with duvets and pajamas is compulsory – as stipulated in the decree for kindergartens. It lasts from an hour and a half to two hours and during this time the children have to lie down quietly in a dark room. “I tried several times to get Terezka to read a book in bed,” says Tereza. “Unfortunately, I’ve always heard that everyone wanted to do it later, the kids would flip pages, show each other photos and classmates who needed a break wouldn’t be able to sleep. And besides, Terka eventually falls asleep, So what’s my point? But after maybe 45 minutes of silence and darkness, everyone would be asleep. Even the one who doesn’t need it. “
It is not allowed to lie down on a cot for a long time
“He sleeps after o“It has been a part of kindergarten life for decades. Today’s generation of parents and grandparents remember how they whispered to their friends when they couldn’t fall asleep. The author of this article only fell asleep once during her entire date, but he spent many tens of hours a year playing with the laces of the sheets, making knots at the end as heads and acting with them silent theatrical performances.
According to the Educational Framework Program for Preschool Education, an afternoon rest in kindergarten is required and, according to the decree, it is also necessary for children to put on their pajamas and lie down in their own branded underwear, i.e. on a bed or a deck chair with solid back support. However, if the child does not fall asleep within half an hour, the kindergarten staff should allow him to have a quiet activity, namely reading a book, which Tereza requested for her daughter. The document literally reads “… in the daily schedule, the individual children’s need for activity, sleep and rest is respected (for example, children with a lower sleep need are offered a quiet schedule instead of bed rest). Forcing children to sleep on a bed is unacceptable. “
As Irena Berkovcová of the Czech School Inspectorate states, “from the point of view of the biorhythm of the child’s organism, children’s rest immediately after lunch is in the form of bed rest for about 30 minutes (including reading a fairy tale, l listening to relaxing music.) Children who fall asleep during this time continue to sleep, children who do not fall asleep get up, take off their pajamas, and use the prepared quiet activities offer. Forcing children to stay on a sofa if do not sleep is inadmissible. ” Unfortunately, in many nurseries, this is exactly what they need, if only because the parents are far away and a five-year-old cannot estimate half an hour.
Sleeping in pajamas on a cot? Czech specialty
Children’s sleep is curated by sleep anthropologist Lenka Medvecová Tinková, who has already published three publications on this topic and is completing another. “Sleep is influenced not only by our body’s needs, but also by socio-cultural influences, climate and individual lifestyle. In some countries, three-year-olds can no longer sleep in the afternoon even in kindergarten. In other countries, on the other hand, afternoon rest is common not only for children, but also for adults. The approach to it varies. 44 studies on the topic of children’s sleep, for example, have shown that children abandon daytime sleep more often between two and five years of age, “he explains. There are countries like that Great Britainwhere children often start school at the age of four and their school day doesn’t finish before 3pm, so they don’t even get a chance to sleep.
Some babies need to sleep until half past eight, and if they have to get up an hour earlier during the week, it’s hard for them and they just fall asleep after lunch.
According to Lenka Medvecová Tinková, even changing into pajamas is more of a socio-cultural issue and a “kindergarten ritual” than a necessity, just like a dark room and beds with solid back support, which are required by the decree. “Just slowing down activities can be good for children: they read a fairy tale, an interesting story or listen to audio fairy tales, play puzzles, read a book or they can paint or create something. This is mainly true for preschool children, that in most cases they no longer need to sleep, “says the sleep anthropologist.
Two dozen biorhythms are not easy to combine
According to Lenka Medvecová, however, parents should not be fixated only on the fact that their child no longer sleeps at home on weekends or holidays, because the kindergarten regime is very different and much more demanding for the child. “Some babies need to sleep until half past eight, and if they have to get up an hour earlier during the week, it’s hard for them and they just fall asleep after lunch,” she explains. “Likewise, the kindergarten environment is different, more demanding, the children here do a lot of activities, they have to concentrate and they are also tired of having to adapt to the team and get along with their peers.”
Preschool teachers have the difficult role of having exactly as many different biorhythms in the classroom as there are children. Although the framework educational program foresees the need to respect individual needs, in reality it is impossible to adapt 100% to everyone. “It would be of great help if there weren’t so many children in the classrooms and, conversely, there were more staff who could pick up the ‘insomniacs’ somewhere after half an hour and be with them,” she says. However, according to Lenka Medvecová Tinková, there are nurseries in the Czech Republic that can accommodate both “sleepers” and “insomniacs”. “In some nurseries, they use a division into zones: an activity zone, a quiet play zone, a sleep zone, and it’s all divided into a small space. In others, I have come across the fact that the afternoon nap is plus an offer to read: teachers read it or combine it with listening to audio stories. Nobody forces anyone to fall asleep, they rest with fairy tales, which for many children can be an important calming element to face a difficult day at ‘asylum’, he describes.
Resting in the shade under a tree
One of the kindergartens that definitely doesn’t force anyone to sleep is the Libocká state kindergarten in Prague 6. Its director, Dana Chroustovská, has at her disposal the “beds with solid back support” that require a hygienist, but she really he uses them only in the class of younger children from 3 to 4.5 years old. “With the elderly, we spread a large blanket, lie down and read a book,” says director Chroustovská. “If someone falls asleep, the others obviously have to let them sleep. How else will they learn tolerance and consideration if not this way?” She explains.
From my experience I can say that in many nursery schools it is possible to agree, it is enough just to discuss this topic together. Sometimes parents want their child not to sleep in the afternoon, but teachers observe that the child is very tired. Elsewhere, however, the child no longer needs to sleep and is therefore stressed out by kindergarten. These are all very lively topics that need to be talked about and solutions sought.
Teachers can use the time when some friends sleep, for example, for pedagogical diagnosis, preparation for kindergarten and for a quiet conversation. When the weather is nice, Liboc’s children also use the school’s large garden to relax, where they can lie in the shade under a tree. “Before, when children usually came to our kindergarten after six in the morning, they were really tired at twelve. Today, however, most children arrive around nine thirty, so it is quite logical that their need for sleep after lunch it is minor “, adds the manager. ‘The teachers could probably put them to sleep if they wanted to, but why spoil everyone’s evening? At least the kids will be in bed by eight and get a better night’s sleep.’
An evening without the pressure and stress of sleep brings better sleep
But what can parents do when their kindergarten insists that “for organizational reasons” it is necessary that all children lie in silence and in the dark? Lenka Medvecová Tinková stresses that they should not give up on attempts at dialogue. “From my experience I can say that in many kindergartens it is possible to find an agreement, it is enough just to discuss this topic together,” she says. “Sometimes parents want their child not to sleep in the afternoon, but the teachers observe that the child is very tired. Elsewhere, however, the child no longer needs to sleep and is therefore stressed from kindergarten. These are all very lively topics that we must talk about and seek solutions “.
If an agreement cannot be reached and it is not possible to fetch the baby consistently after lunch, parents should focus on making bedtime less difficult and psychologically demanding for everyone involved. As soon as the parents find out that the child slept in kindergarten, they begin to subconsciously fear that it will be difficult to fall asleep in the evening. The child – even unconsciously – feels this as a great pressure, and the more he has a problem “taking” it.
“When we know that falling asleep is becoming too much for us, it is advisable to include, for example, an evening walk in the fresh air, which works great for calming down,” a sleep anthropologist’s parents advise. As difficult as it may seem, parents should focus on making the evening a calm and enjoyable part of the day. You will probably not force a child who sleeps like a log in the afternoon to go to bed at eight, but it is still possible to make good use of the evening time, for example to talk about kindergarten. “In the evening, children often open up in a way that they have no time or mood for during the day. It is a moment of mutual closeness that we can take advantage of. For example, we can find out how the child feels in kindergarten, what he is doing. living, if something bothers him or if we can help him with something. The evening together is also a space to reconnect with your baby after a long day and a separation. This time can be very beneficial for the whole family, “advises Lenka Medvecová. Tinková. “The less rush, pressure and stress, the easier it is to fall asleep.”
