Saturday, May 9, 2009

Huh. How about that?

Xander's napping has generally (knock on wood) been getting better. He--reluctantly--will go down for a nap most days (compared to his sister who fought it every day of her life), and for only the last month or so, actually sleeps 1.5-2 hours without waking up at all. Still, the initial going down part is still a struggle.

Today, I just didn't want to spend an hour begging him or forcing him to go to sleep. Late naps are just as bad as no nap. So, after about 15 minutes, I said, "Okay, if you don't want to nap today, you don't have to."

"No!" he said.

My hopes rose. "You want to take a nap?" He nodded, with a grumpy expression on his face.

Interesting, I thought. "Well, you have to lay down and be quiet if you want to nap." Shockingly, he obeyed.

He popped up a few times, and I repeated that a nap was optional, and soon enough, he was asleep.

Reverse psychology actually works. Who knew?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Liam didn't want to nap yesterday but when Vikki and I sat down after lunch for a nap, he quickly figured out we weren't going to watch TV or entertain him and was out like a light.