Sharon is an early childhood educator in a dayhome. Michael, the father of one of the children in her care, comes
to her with a problem – he’s frustrated that Joe, his son, is no longer sleeping at night.
Read the following exchange, then, using what you have learned in this session, answer the questions.
Sharon: “Hi Michael, how’s it going?”
Michael: “Awful – Joe’s not sleeping anymore. It feels like every night is a constant battle of trying to make him get
back to bed.”
Sharon: “Oh no! When he’s here he’s so tired that, by lunchtime, he’s almost falling asleep.”
Michael: “How long does he usually nap for?”
Sharon: “We nap at 12:30 and he can sleep…usually until 2:30 or 3:00”
Michael: “That’s more than two hours! No wonder he doesn’t sleep at home! I can’t keep going in there every
night like this!”
Sharon: “It sounds like you’re really frustrated and neither of you are getting a lot of sleep. But when I see him
here, he’s really struggling to stay awake, even when he should be interacting with his friends. Would you like me
to look at a shorter nap time?”
Michael: “How about no naps?”
Sharon: “Okay, let’s think - no naps, shorter naps, are there any other solutions you would like to explore?”
Michael: “Maybe a time limit, like no napping past 1:30?”
Sharon: “Sure – we could also look at putting him down for an earlier nap and serving him lunch later and getting
him into a new routine. We have a few possible solutions here. Is there one you would like to try?”
Michael: “Well, the time limit might work. I don’t like the idea of serving him lunch later. If we can’t do no naps, I
think a good compromise is making sure he wakes up by 1:30.”
Sharon: “Okay, I agree. That still gives him an hour of nap time. Let’s try this for a few weeks and meet again to
give feedback to each other on how it’s
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How was the problem defined?