One of my favorite pics of Liv napping. For more info, read my Flickr description.

Naps have amazing, restorative powers.

Livia gave up napping at 3.5 years. I nearly wept in despair and wondered how I could possibly fill our days with activities and not perish in exhaustion from the effort. Yes, we did institute a quiet time before she gave up naps. (It was something that we worked into our days with persistence and a fair amount of battling; quiet times definitely didn’t come naturally around here!) I found myself nodding off during an afternoon movie or pushing for a brief respite during those supposedly “quiet” times. And though it was obvious to anyone around us that Liv would benefit from a nap, the kid just wouldn’t do it. I think the saying “You can take a horse to water but you can’t make it drink” fits perfectly here. I could enforce a room-only policy, but there was no way I could make my daughter close her eyes and relax.

The strangest thing has happened this summer, though. Livia has started napping again. She’ll go into quiet time, mess around with toys for awhile, and then the house grows oddly quiet. No tambourine clashes blast through the door, no storytelling to dollies, no dawdling trips to the bathroom, nothing.

Aaaaaaahhhhh.

Naptime. Sweet, sweet sleep, available to Liv, to me, and to Jeremy if he’s on his lunch break.

Napping has it’s rewards we’ve since learned. Liv is much gentler, less dramatic, more enjoyable and friendlier after naptime. She tends to avoid the pre-dinner meltdown and also has energy for a late-evening walk around the neighborhood. The real kicker is, if we keep the naps to an hour or less, she’s still ready to go to bed at a decent time. It’s a win-win situation.

Now if only we can convince American businesses to commit to siestas… I think it’d be a positive cultural change, don’t you? : )