New Toddler Sleep Study

Scientists at Brown University are researching the sleep habits of children aged 2 to 5. Because this is the time when most young children stop taking a nap during the day, the researchers are interested in how the kids will function without one. Apparently some are wondering if preschoolers and kindergartners would be better off not having nap-time at all. After all, that's time taken away from learning.

So far they have found that while children tend to differ in what time of day they need their sleep, most respond similarly to missing a nap or staying awake past their bedtime: they become disengaged.

Kids grow up so quickly and it saddens me that anyone would want to rush things along even more by taking away their nap. I'm sure there are some three or four-year-olds out there who would function just fine without a mid-afternoon snooze, but there's still so much going on in their little worlds at this age that I think a little down time in the middle of the day is very appropriate.