Seldom do the words “quiet” and “toddler” go together but offering quiet time for toddlers is great training. It teaches them self-control and allows them to learn to occupy themselves and build their imagination. I strive to offer a quiet time to my toddler (Jeremiah right now) each day. But I also try to change up the situation often as well. Here are some examples.
One day I may lay Jeremiah in his bed after lunch in a dimly lit room with 2-4 books to occupy him. I make sure he has gone potty and had a drink before I walk him to his room. I am very clear as to what my expectations are for this time.
“Jeremiah, here are your books that mommy picked out for you to look at. Remember that during rest time you must stay on your bed and be very quiet. No calling for mommy or getting out of your bed. Remember?”
Once I am sure that he understands I lay him down and quietly leave the room. At the age of 3 I usually set his timer for 30 minutes and if he has been quiet and yet is still awake I get him up after that. Some days he does sleep, but mostly he does not any more. It is just a quiet time to rest his fast paced body and curious mind. It teaches him that it is good to rest and that he can be alone and be just fine. He hears the rest of us up and about during this time but he is learning that he doesn’t have to be a part of everything. Some things are for “big” kids and grown ups. It is good, in my opinion, for children to have to wait to grow up.
On a different day his quiet time might involve me getting down a special game or toy out of the closet that he doesn’t get to do very often. Usually I do this during school time but again I am very clear on the expectations.
“Jeremiah, would you like to play with this ________? If you would you need to come over here and sit right here. Do not get up until you are done playing with it because once you get up your play time is over and we will clean it up for the day. Do you understand?”
Or one afternoon, around 4pm, which is when the older children do their zone cleaning (blog post coming soon about this new chore system) I will set him down in the middle of the floor and instruct him to play with a certain set of toys while chores are being done. I often times mark his boundaries with his blanket and tell him he must play on it. This type of “quiet time” improves his focus and attention span as he has to follow his rules while others are doing their own thing.
Children learn through play. It is their greatest time of learning for the first 6-7 years I truly believe. But with a little direction they can learn life skills that are so beneficial while they play as well. We can’t expect children to go from running around like crazy things to sitting in a chair and writing their numbers overnight. Self-discipline and self-control come easier for some children rather than others but it takes a lot of dedication and work on the parents’ part to achieve this type of quiet time for toddlers. But the rewards are amazing! You will feel great satisfaction when you can take your child to the doctor and they sit in a chair in the waiting room quietly or when you must go into the license office for that dreaded renewal and now your toddler will sit on the wall and wait patiently instead of running through the room with no control.
We usually start this type of training with our children about 1 year old. Before that we use blanket training as a means to teach our children boundaries and obedience. By the time that our toddlers are between 16 and 20 months they are fairly consistent with obedience during quiet time. This also gives momma a time to read her Bible, throw dinner in the crock pot, or mop that pesky kitchen floor. Start with short time frames and grow from there but momma training using quiet time for toddlers could be your sanity saver!
Check back tomorrow for my list of my favorite Quiet Time for Toddlers activities.
Hi! How do you start training them at one? And do you have any tips for starting with a 3 yr old? And what do you mean by blanket training? Have you already written a blog post on that? Thanks!
You can check out more information on this topic at my post about Blanket Training {HERE}. I hope it helps and please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions. Just use the contact form here on the blog.