For the little ones, rest during the day is as important as that at night. The habit of napping has great benefits for children.
During the first four or five years of life it is recommended that children rest a while after the meal, as this routine has a positive impact on their development.
It allows them to be calmer, less irritable, more sociable, more attentive and helps you similarly better learned during the day. In fact, it helps reduce hyperactivity, anxiety and depression in children.
The periods of daytime rest are shortened as the child grows. First the morning nap disappears and later, more or less after four years, they will end up eliminating the afternoon nap.
The nap facilitates the recovery of physical and psychic energy, eliminates tension and accumulated fatigue and improves mood. As a kind of "reset" to face the second part of the day.
According to research on childhood sleep, a small loss of sleep time prolonged in early childhood is related to worse school performance. In addition, little sleep during the first four years multiplies the risk of language delay.
Not taking a nap in childhood is associated with more impulsive behavior, a decrease in ability and interest in learning, as well as a higher prevalence of night terrors.
How children should take a nap
There are children who have enough twenty minutes of nap while others sleep two hours, there are even those who sometimes agree to sleep and sometimes not.
Napping is a physiological need, but each organism is different and therefore each child has their own sleep needs, and the growth stage also influences. There are stages in which the world is so stimulating that they refuse to "waste time" to explore it.
It is not a matter of forcing them, but to offer them the possibility and prepare the environment to take a nap.
It is important to establish a nap routine, more or less always at the same time, with some daylight and a quiet atmosphere. Ideally, do them before four in the afternoon; The most common is to do them at two, after the meal.
There are parents who choose to eliminate naps for children who have trouble sleeping at night, but this is not the solution. It is not necessary to prevent the child from sleeping if he needs it. In fact, napping may help them sleep better at night.
It is usual that after three years, when the child already goes to school, the nap time is eliminated, usually due to lack of space, making the nap disappear too soon, when there are still children who need it.
Napping has important benefits for child development, therefore it is a habit that should be tried to encourage.
