In a few days, my youngest child will celebrate her 4th birthday. As I reflect on the young lives of both my children, here are some of the things I have learned about 3 year olds. Do these ring true with 3 year olds that you know?

1. 3 year olds are CONFIDENT. They have figured out that there are things that they can do. They have discovered that they do things well. They are getting taller and they are developing better motor skills. They are gaining independence and they can do some things without constant supervision.

2. 3 year olds are PROUD. They are proud of themselves for the things they are learning and for their art work and for their exercise and for….whatever they do makes them proud.

3. 3 year olds are INDEPENDENT. They want to do it themselves and, lots of time, they can!

4. 3 year olds are FUNNY! They say funny things and they do funny things and they see the world in a unique, funny way.

5. 3 year olds need some QUIET every now and then. They will not necessarily ask for it, but they will appreciate a little time when they can be still and quiet and be by themselves.

6. 3 year olds still NEED A NAP. It doesn’t have to be a long one but they do need some nap time each day. One great trick to getting them to nap is to tell them, “You do not have to go to sleep but you have to be in your bed and you have to be quiet.”

7. 3 year olds still like to SNUGGLE and HUG! From what every parent always says, there will come a day (and it will arrive too soon) that they won’t want to acknowledge you in any way, much less want to touch you. I don’t know when that will happen to me but, until it does, we snuggle and hug A LOT!

Without a doubt, my favorite time of the day is the first 10 -15 minutes in the early afternoon after I have tucked everyone in for naps. Those naps are one of the reasons I have any shred of sanity left!

From the time my children were infants, they have napped every afternoon. I can count (almost on one hand) the number of days they have skipped nap and that includes Christmas, Thanksgiving and birthday celebrations. I have planned my mornings and days around their naps and I have not regretted that.

I have listened to other mothers speak of their 2 yr. old and say “Well, she just gave up her nap.” Some of those same people have asked me, “How do you get yours to nap?” I admit that I haven’t always known how to answer that. I am certainly no “baby whisperer” and there is no trick!

Here is what I have done to get my children to nap: I HAVE NEVER GIVEN THEM A CHOICE NOT TO! I make sure we are home before or immediately after lunch. They have a little down time after lunch (read a book or watch a short video). Then, they get comfortable and get in the bed. I close the shades and tuck them in. They don’t get to come out until they have been asleep and I check them to make sure they actually go to sleep!

My children don’t know what napping in the car means. We have had lots of play dates and lunch dates and mornings at the park but we watch the time and we don’t skip nap. There is no whining or fussing or complaining. It is just nap time because that is what it has always been after lunch. My 6 yr. old took an afternoon nap until, literally, the day before he started kindergarten last summer. He still naps on weekends and holidays. When my 3 yr. old gets sleepy, she goes to get ready for nap and calls me to tuck her in.

My husband believes a nap on his off days are part of his unalienable rights! I nap some days. Mostly, I enjoy that time when the house is light and still and quiet. I find that to be very different than when the house is quiet at night. Nap time gives me a break and it helps me gear up for the rest of the day. It is a time that I can do a little work or make a phone call or read a book or…

In a couple of years, both children will be in school and we won’t nap with the regularity that we do now. When that happens, I will miss daily nap time but I won’t be sorry that, for a time, I built my days around it!

By Rachel Langston

What is it about the front door of a pediatrician’s office that turns an otherwise pitiful, lethargic, feverish child into a perky, babbling, vivacious being? Not once or twice, but three times THIS WEEK, I have watched this amazing phenomenon with my own children. Never mind that I only have two children.
We didn’t ring in the New Year in the emergency room but we arrived there about 12:30 a.m. because one of my children had swallowed a watch battery earlier that evening. At first, I was content to just let the battery pass naturally. That was until I started reading about “battery ingestion” on the Internet and realized that there is such a thing as the National Button Battery Ingestion Hotline. I called the hotline and they indicated that I MUST have my child x-rayed so that we could make sure that the battery had not gotten lodged and started eroding. By the time we had the x-ray and saw the Dr., my child was laughing and bouncing off the wall. The biggest impression that the whole experience made was that we stayed up all night and watched TV while we were waiting.
Just 3 days later, I took that same child to the Dr. because he had been running fever. Prior to the trip to the Dr., this child had been willing to stay in bed (and had done so) for most of the week before. After we walked into the office, this child immediately transformed into the most personable person around. There was NO fever, NO cough, NO sneezing. The nurse just looked at me. I am sure she was wondering why I was there!
At 8:45 a.m. this morning, I was back at the Dr. with child #2. While we waited, there was singing, talking, invention of games and an explanation of the pain chart for me. This was NOT the same child that awakened me at 2:22 a.m. with a fever of 104!
I am not one of those mothers that runs my children to the Dr. every time they sniffle. In fact, if our pediatrician is not working that day, I have been known put off a trip until I can see him. In these cases, my children DID need to go, even if they didn’t act like they were sick once they got there. As for the battery, it was not lodged and it passed quickly. Both visits to the doctor’s office resulted in prescriptions for antibiotics so there was some indication that my children actually HAD been feeling bad, no matter what they acted like in the office!

Copyright, RPL Communications, 2007