What happens as soon as you announce, “Nap time!”
Moans of “you’re spoiling our game”, wails from the less verbal member(s) of your family, and protests of “not already!”?
And when you finally get the baby, toddler, and/or preschooler down in their respective beds… is it peaceful?
Yes…. for about 10 minutes.
Just enough to start on a cup of coffee and a much-needed snack, plotting what you might get to do in the minutes/hours ahead of you.
Until you hear the dreaded words.…
“I need to use potty!”
“I pooped!”
“Firetruck, not dump truck!”
You help little people with the potty, change yet another diaper, and patiently trade out the quiet time toy. Back to your coffee.
And it happens again.
“Can’t I get any quiet around here?” you wonder in frustration.
Enter the introvert parent’s sanity-saving guide – the naptime edition.
The diaper call
If this happens to you frequently, you could set out another diaper ready to go. Know that your quiet time won’t actually begin until she calls for a change.
(Think of the intervening quiet moments as prep for quiet time – getting your food, coffee, and book/activity/podcast set up.)
Potty runs
Potty calls, likewise, need to be answered unless you suspect your kid is gaming the system (i.e. getting out of bed because the bathroom is the only other permitted spot to be).
In that case, make a point of pre- and post-nap bathroom breaks with reminders that she needs to wait until after nap to use the potty.
(Consider reverting to pull-ups at nap if she can’t hold it through nap time. Your sanity is more important than getting her nap-time potty-trained, right this minute.)
The toy switcher
You might permit one toy change-out per nap time, or none at all. Remind the child that he already picked, and that’s the one he gets.
If he doesn’t want it, he doesn’t have to play with it.
What you’re doing is setting the expectations for yourself (after one diaper to change, I’ll have quiet) and for your children (I don’t get to repeatedly change my mind).
What you’re doing: setting the expectations for yourself and your kids.
The result: peace
It will take some time and reminders to re-train the kids when they bang on the door, calling for you as usual, but the results are unquestionably worth it.
You get nap time back again.
You get peace during the day back.
You get time to drink a hot cup of coffee, to refuel your body.
You get time to do something that soothes your soul, fills your bucket, and lights you up.
You get what every introvert parent needs: time by yourself in quiet. Don’t be ashamed for needing that. The kids are perfectly capable of napping or playing on their own for a couple hours.
Your mental health, your sanity, is dependent on taking a break. So take it. For their sakes, and yours.
Happy naptime!
