My fraternal boys are 3.5 years-old, and share a large bedroom. William would sleep soundly for 3 hours each afternoon, if his brothers would let him. Jack would sleep for 2 hours and play quietly for an indefinite length of time. Connor, however, would rather run into a burning building than sleep. He needs the sleep though. He IS tired; he just really has a hard time turning his brain off. (I am the same way, but I like sleep.) Connor is not content being the only one awake, so when he cannot wake Will, he will walk over to Jack's bed, rub Jack's back, and whisper, "Jack? Hey, Jack! You awake? You still sleepin'?" Until Jack is not. Jack is very easy-going, so he does not mind, and they will play nicely for a minute until someone suddenly has a black eye or a bite mark scar for life.

I would not mind if they played quietly and peacefully, but I cannot have them getting out of their beds because it leads to bloodshed. I cannot keep them in their beds by my willing it.

How should I handle nap time? Without it, they start to unravel by 5pm, coinciding with my unraveling without a break all day. We do not have another room to separate them. I can't leave Connor up while the others are shuffled off to bed; they would feel punished.

I really need them to nap. They need it, but so do I!

Thanks,
Cindy

Hi! My name is Kristen and I am the mom to 3 yr old triplets. Identical twin boys and a girl. All 3 of them as well share a large bedroom. All 3 of them can take pretty long naps but found that the boys nap well together. So they sleep in their room for nap and our daughter has slept in a pack n play in our room for quite a long time. One of our sons tends to get up earlier than the other and I get up there before he makes any noise at all or goes near his brother. They know not to wake each other up. I am kind of a stickler with whoever is up being quiet if the others are still sleeping. We have a small house and the noise travels fast so I cannot have them waking up before they are already or all hell will break loose.
I definitely need a break when they go go go all day long and they would be unbearable to deal with at dinner time. In fact our son who tends to get up earlier didn't want to nap yesterday. He fought it so I brought him downstairs and by the time our other son got up he was ready for a nap whether he liked it or not. I laid down on the extra bed we have had in their room since they were babies and he went right out. He only got to sleep for an hour but it was better than nothing.

Here's to happy nappers. Goodluck

We do the same as Kristen. My three just turned three a month ago and are still in cribs so they're napping in pack & plays in other bedrooms - our bedroom and the guest room. If your sons are in regular beds, maybe you could put out sleeping bags in separate rooms for them to nap. Is there something you could reward Connor with for not waking up his brothers? Like a special book or game he only gets to play with when he's the first one up? Or maybe introduce it as quiet time books or quiet time toys so it doesn't seem like a reward for not napping.

Mom to GBG born in July 2009 at 30w6d: 3#10oz, 3#12oz, 3#2oz