When to nap? Afternoon school

Hi, my 2 year old will attend afternoon school from 1.30-4.30pm this coming September. The school bus will probably pick her up around 1pm.


My question is, for those of you with kids in afternoon school, what time do you let your kid nap? Before school? After school? Then what about meals?

Would they wake up late in the morning and have just one big meal before school?


I believe they do get snack time at school but probably just bread or biscuit.


Thanks.

Hi Aallyahm


I understand your concern as we're going through afternoon school and were initially concerned how to deal with nap and meals. For us, my child goes to bed everynight at 8pm and wakes at 7am.


Therefore, when he woke at 7am, had breakfast and then out to the park to play from -8.30 - 10am. Most afternoon school kids were in the park from 8am. For a child awake from 7am and 2 hrs running around with other kids, he was tired and ready for a nap by 10am - 11.30. By then we had a light lunch ready when he woke, get ready for school and bus picks him up at 12.15. He also has a snack at school but this can be a glass of water and an orange one day or macaroni another day so I didnt really rely on this to keep him alert. I found he was ready for afternoon school after having this nap and when the bus came back at 4.30pm he was one of the few kids still awake on the bus. By 7pm he was ready for his bath and read book and lights out again by 8pm. We stuck with this routine and it was fine. There may be days he only gets 45 mins / 1 hr nap as he got older but that was also fine. By K2 they start to grow out of naps but if he is tired, he still has a short nap just to help feel better going off to school.


My only advice is you need a routine and stick with it, otherwise I've no idea how a child can cope with afternoon school. Good luck.