When I was writing the post last week about letting kids be bored, I was thinking about how we used to have quiet time or rest time everyday when our kids were younger. This time was valuable for all of us. Obviously when they were really young they used to sleep during this time. As they got older they sometimes slept and sometimes didn’t. However, even after they’d outgrown a day sleep we had quiet time, if we were at home. This happened on most weekends and school holidays, probably right through primary school. Even when they were well past a daytime sleep, it was good to have that break away from each other.
Earlier this week I was dropping something off to someone and it was the first day of having her daughter home from school. She was talking about trying to get into a routine and mentioned struggling with quiet time. So they were obviously having a quiet time, as part of their routine.
in a “bear cave” 
after playing with duplo 
making a bed for herself & her friends 
in a box
Once they were out of their cot and in a bed, this meant that they could move around at rest time. My daughter would often go to sleep, after playing for a while. Many times I found her curled up under a chair, sleeping in a “bear cave” or sleeping curled up at one end of the bed, as duplo or books were all over the rest of the bed. My son, however, tended to only sleep if he was on his bed with no distractions. He used to like being rocked then would lay him on his bed and he would often go to sleep.
The Value of Rest or Quiet Time
Having a quiet time or rest time is good for your children and good for you. Everyone having some time in their own space helps, especially if you are together a good deal of the time. It can give children a chance to think or read or be creative if they are not sleeping. It can give you a break and a chance to recharge before dealing with children again.
Even if they don’t sleep, resting is beneficial.
If you do manage to get all your children resting quietly, use that time to rest or do something for yourself. The housework and other tasks will still be there later on.
Some Ideas to Quieten Children Down
- Make rest or quiet time part of the daily routine. Then the children know that, for example, after lunch, we’re all going to have a rest.
- Start rest time with a story
- Sing a particular quiet song to begin rest time with
- Rock young children before placing them in their bed
- Play some quiet restful music such as the YouTube below
- Put a timer on, so that children know that when the timer goes off, they can come out of their rooms. This way they don’t keep asking “Can we get up now?”
But they can make so much mess, if unsupervised in their room!
Yes, I agree. However, it can still be good for everyone to have a break from each other. Especially if spending all day together, day in, day out. My children had to clean up what they’d been playing with before they came out of their room. Some days that meant my daughter having to put all her clothes back away, as she’d been “washing” and had spread her clothes all around the room.
How can we do Rest Time if Kids are sharing rooms?
When we would stay at the unit, we would often let our daughter rest in the lounge room (by making a bed out of 2 lounge chairs), as the kids shared a room. As they got older, we still had quiet time, it just meant they had to read or do something quiet together in the bedroom at the unit.
So you could let one rest quietly in another space, such as the lounge room. An alternative would be to give them quiet time one after the other. Though this doesn’t give you as much of a break. Another idea is to playing sleeping lions – lie quietly with your eyes shut, the first one to make a noise loses.
Do you have quiet time or rest time as part of your routine with your kids?