Should you force children to sleep?

[Stephaaane]

"Should you force children to sleep?"

Hi, I'm stuck in a crossroad. Should I listen to ex-roomleader and force children to sleep or follow my belief and allow children to sleep when they are ready?

I wrote the whole scenario in a previous post and it disappeared

[linsaa fdc]

Hi,
Everyone is different and have their own way of doing things, she is the ex room leader so i assume you are in charge now so do it your way.
In saying that I believe children should have a routine and if they are under school age they should still have a rest leading up to school.
One childs routine at their home is different to another childs routine but in my 21 years experience childrena are very adaptable and I always end up having all of my children in the same routine here. If they are really engaged in play and I don't want to interupt I will let them go longer and when we eventually come in and wash up and sit to eat the 3 year olds will even look at my clock and if its past our usual 11 oclock lunch time they will say 'oh nanny we are late now we have to hurry up' its very cute.
I don't discuss sleep/rest time it is a part of our day and it flows on from lunch and everyone knows what to expect and what is next.
It helps you too if they all rest at the same time because you also need and bit of down time to get ready for the rest of your day and crazy home time hour.
Linsaa fdc

[Lorina]

If a child doesn't want to sleep you cannot force them however they need rest. You can create a very restful environment that encourages the children to sleep such as dim the lights, have children on their beds, have their blankets on, put on sleep music and by doing this most child can't keep themselves awake and eventually fall asleep themselves. For a child that doesn't sleep, have them rest on their beds for at least 20 minutes, if after 20 minutes they don't sleep then you can get them something to do on their beds quietly while the others are sleeping. However, as Linsaa mentioned, children are adaptable and will end up sleeping because it is a part of their day and they tire out very easily, especially if you do outdoor play before lunch etc.

,
Lorina