Tell me about quiet time!

I think my twins are getting close to dropping their naps. When its time to drop naps, I'd like for them to have quiet time in their rooms. What does quiet time look like for you? Did you separate your twins or keep them in the same room? How did you transition them from naps to quiet time? I would love any advice or tips for establishing quiet time! Thanks!!

 

Once my two stopped napping, I would send them up to their room (they have separate rooms) and tell them that they did not have to sleep but they needed to be quiet until I came up to get them. They could look at books or play with toys quietly. It was not much of a transition, I just noticed that they were napping less and quiet time was what I did to bridge the transition. I just started re-branding nap time as quiet time and told them they were welcome to sleep, play quietly or read.

 

This want we do: I like to set up quiet time in a way that allows any child that needs it on that particular day to nap, so you would keep a schedule that allows for naps if they feel like it. At 3.5 mine still nap a few times a week. We snuggle up on the big bed and read and listen to music for 30-40 minutes, some days they fall asleep, some days they don't. If they don't we all go downstairs and they have another 20 minutes or so of quiet activity like drawing or doing puzzles while I have a mug of tea and read. I am with them in the same room, but they know that only emergencies are a reason for interrupting me. This really is a ritual now, the kids understand that mom needs her break.

For us, quiet time alone does not work. Mine share a pretty small room, but I do not think that this is the main reason. They need help settling down to quiet time and we all enjoy the break to cuddle, read together.

 

Hmmm...not sure how it would work with twins, but with my older son, I would still do the nap routine (reading book, pulling shades in room) but just tell him that he didn't need to nap - that he just needed to have quiet time. He would still fall asleep some of the time, which was fine. We did quiet time instead of naps the whole time he was 4, and then stopped when he went to kindergarten at 5.5 years of age.