Quiet time? Need advice

[alydar]

My kids are ds7, dd5, and ds2. I would LOVE to have a quiet time during our day but can't quite figure out how. With the older two it wouldn't be too bad (I'm sure I'd hear some grumbling at first but they'd adjust). It's the two year old. He's the issue. He and ds7 share a room. He's quite an instigator of trouble and knows just how to push my older ds's buttons. So I have a hard time imagining that Quiet Time would truly be quiet if they were to be in the same space.

He doesn't nap anymore. We don't have another separate room that he can occupy. I'm drawing a blank on how to make some quiet time a part (MUCH needed) of our day. And I don't really consider it beneficial time if I have to spend it entertaining him either. And I don't know how to get him to cooperate with the idea. Wow! Ever feel like ya don't know anything??

Any advice/suggestions greatly appreciated.

[mmschool]

My kids have given up naps pretty early as well, so we have focused on training them for quiet time. I am lucky in that my eldest, 3, the hardest to keep quiet is the only girl, so she has her own room. I think dividing people up is key. Could you give the two year old the room and move your seven year old to another space? I would set up a folding chair in a closet or laundry room or even the kitchen to divide up kids for rest, so long as they have a pile of books or whatever quiet they need to entertain themselves. I also put myself as far away from the non-napping toddler as possible, because she NEVER stops talking unless she is sleeping, and I am not prepared to spank her enough to make her whisper - I just move me where I can't hear. It took me a couple of weeks to train her to stay in her room, not wander around being destructive when no one was watching. I would set ambushes on the stairs until she got the picture. (And now I am trying to untrain it so that she will use the potty even during rest time. ) Then I just have to train myself to keep it to a reasonable length even though there is so much I would like to get done. My daughter can play for an hour, but when I start running over, she just starts breaking things out of boredom.

Lena

dd3 - LHTH
ds 1
ds 2month

[MelInKansas]

I just echo what mmschool said. I could NOT implement quiet time with my 2YO being in the same room as someone else. I would find another area for your 7YO to be and shut the 2YO in his room. It will require training him to know what the boundaries are for that time, and again as mmschool said, just having it be an hour, hour and a half, so that the 2YO doesn't get into too much mischief. I keep toys in my 2YO's room, she is confined to her room for part of school time. There is a whole closet full but I pull out a few at a time and lay those out for her to play with, and I also turn on music she really likes that.

My 7YO loves to listen to audio books in the afternoon during naptime (my 2YO still does nap). I keep a running supply coming from the library. This gives me some much needed down time

[mom23]

Perhaps a playpen would help-set in a quiet corner away from anyone else?

[NicoleJ]

You always have your own bedroom that someone could have quiet time in!

[alydar]

Thank you wonderful ladies for your suggestions! I'm thinking the reality of my life with a two year old right now doesn't include quiet time. I hadn't considered putting my oldest in my room but that may work if he can bring some choice items with him. It will definitely take some BIG training to get the two year old to do this but it'll never happen if I don't at least start trying, right?

Many thanks and many blessings!

[Carrie]

Whitney,

We had our two year old have quiet time in his crib with some board books, a few toys, and a "Mommy Tape" type recording in the afternoon. The recording was just me reading nursery rhymes, singing the ABC's, saying some Bible verses, naming things in the room, reading some Bible stories, saying the names of our family members, etc. to make a personalized tape that sounded like I was talking directly to my 2 year old. We played it during the quiet time and when the tape ended, the quiet time was over. The tape was about 30 min. Of course, we worked up to 30 min. and started at 10 min.

We also used the playpen for a short A.M. quiet time. My little one had a snack, like dried cereal in a small cup, and some toys and had to stay in until the timer went off. I set the timer in the room with the playpen and played soft classical music during this time. We started with 10 min. and worked up to 25 min. or so. I was always right in the next room and could see my little one.

We also had a short high chair time each day for about 15 min.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Mom2Monkeys]

I put my 5yo in my bed OR on the couch if I sent the 8yo and 10yo up to their separate rooms. Then the 2yo sleeps on his mattress on the floor beside my bed. I lay beside him, rubbing his legs and back and talking softly, and I ....ssshhhhhhhh....I give him a bottle of warm coconut or hemp milk. While I"m focused on him, I have the 5yo behind me so I can do the "can't look now swat" towards him to get his attention and tell him quiet without disrupting my attempt at trying to mesmerize my 2yo to sleep. He winds up spooning me and keeping me all warm and usually drifts to sleep. Sometimes it works, other days it's the oldest two up stairs causing a fuss, sometimes it's the 2yo, sometimes the 5yo...sometimes all of them. BUT, we try. And when it fails, I put 2yo in his swing with a snack and a calm bedtime show, keep the lights down,and I lay on the couch. We get up after two short shows. But if he does nap, man....there are days where it's only 45m but there are days where we lay down at 2:30 and are getting up after 5:15. The biggest help is not allowing any children to share a room during rest time that I am not in and I have to be able to keep them separate.