I can remember being a toddler and having my daily afternoon down time. My shades were drawn, a box fan was turned on in the corner, and I always had my pick of a record to play in my vintage Fisher-Price record player. Some days it was a dramatized story. Other times it was a Bible songs LP. Or perhaps Ella Jenkins’ “You’ll Sing a Song” LP from the library, or my much-loved Sesame Street albums. That time alone, listening uninterrupted to my favorite music and tales, was essential to my childhood. And I’m guessing it was essential to Mom, too, giving her time to herself and a little break in the day.

My own children are the types who sleep really long, really well at night but have always given up their naps (for the most part) earlier than their same-age peers. Our oldest (now four) hasn’t taken a “nap” since he turned 2-1/2. We were annoyed and concerned about this at first since we thought it was something we were doing wrong. Our pediatrician smiled and said, “Hey…if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” meaning if they were getting their 11-13 hours of sleep at night (which they were), we shouldn’t complain or try to change things. Our attempts to amend their schedules might just bite us back!

What we have enacted, though, from the start, is a mandatory after-lunch quiet time. For at least an hour (sometimes a little more if the kids are obviously needing alone time apart), both kids spend time in their own rooms, in their beds, with quiet activities such as books, puzzles, dolls, or Legos. They can also choose a music or story CD to listen to.

My husband had the brilliant idea of customizing their “quiet time CDs” to make them exactly one hour long. A simple iTunes playlist creates an easy time-controlled album of music or stories. Since our children can’t tell time yet (or don’t really understand the concept of how long an hour really is), they know that they must stay in their respective rooms until that CD runs out. Brilliant, I said!

Here are a few of our favorite “quiet time” picks:

- Bible stories from Your Story Hour (Excellent dramatized versions for kids — I had these as a girl and was delight that they remain unchanged!)
- Eric Herman’s Snail’s Pace album
- Adventures in Odyssey (G’s just now getting into these)
- They Might Be Giants’ Here Come the ABCs and Here Come the 123s

Head over to We Are THAT Family for more great WFMW tips today!