What do you do when...

[Brie]

...you have to attend an event that falls entirely during naptime?

We are invited to a family pool party next weekend from 12-3. Which is basically exactly C's naptime. There will be several OOT family members there so we really want to go and bring C, since I know he'd love the pool and playing with his cousins.

What do you do?

[Deleted]

Go and hope for the best? Take a pack and play with you as a back up option?

[Deleted]

I just go but B doesn't have a strict nap schedule. I'd let him play and if he got cranky I'd park him in his stroller in the shade.

[charlotteandwilbur]

How far away is it? If it was close I'd try to put DS down a little early and then arrive late. If it's far I would probably just hope he slept in the car.

[Sloane]

We would go, but DD is pretty flexible with naps, we would likely end up leaving at 2 or so to get her down with enough time so that it didn't affect bedtime (she needs to be up from her nap by ~5:00 or she won't go to bed at a reasonable time).

[noodleskooze]

If I really wanted to go, then I would do it knowing there'd probably be MOTN consequences baby-wise.

If I was meh to begin with, then I'd just tell them we try to adhere to naptimes and couldn't make it unless his schedule allowed anyways (like sleeping in or something).

[vanillacourage]

I'd get him up early, hope he'd hit naptime early enough to catnap in the car, then leave around 2:30, let him catnap again on the ride home and then plan on an early bedtime.

[oregonpachey]

I am pretty militant about naps because if my kids miss one they are holy terrors. That being said, once in a while we will skip nap. Your party would be one of those occasions.

[MadamePresident]

I should go and let the baby sleep in the car on the way home knowing that the 3 hours or so until bedtime would be rough. We pretty much dealt South the same thing today. I try to keep nap time somewhat consistent, but I refuse to be a slave to it. We have to live our life.

[pescalita]

Depending on the time/distance, we've tried to put down early, late, or sleep on the way/back, but if it's really smack in the middle we usually skip or just send one adult unless it's super important. For us it's not a matter of suffering later, they would be a holy terror DURING the event and no one would have a good time.

[sent]

Your kid should teach mine a thing or two about naps. Yesterday she took a 15 minute nap. 15 minutes!

So yeah, we would go. And if she was having fun, she'd probably skip her nap or take a short 30 minute one when she got tired enough.

[dcn]

For a one off event like that i would go and just be flexible if you need to leave at two if he is melting down. If he is like my kid, he will be having fun and wont meltdown until we are all stuck in the car together haha. I am strict with naps but would make an exception.

[dulcemariamar]

Go and then move up or push back bedtime depending if LO naps in the car.

[Jalapeñomel]

I would go.

[curbsideprophet]

I would go and hope she took a nap after the party. I would also realize we might need to leave early if there was a complete meltdown.

[grosnl19]

We go, nap time is flexible at our house :-)

[teatimefor2]

We would go and hope he would nap in the car. Returning home we would be prepared to drive around for 30 minutes if necessary to ensure he got some sleep.

[rex]

naps i mess with, bedtime i don't.

i would try to move his schedule around a little and hope all the people will keep him happy. then i would look forward to an early bedtime

[Deleted]

We do NOT take DS with us. There is *no way* that would ever work out. DS neeeeeeds his nap, his is ridiculous fussy and angry without it. He is not a "try it and hope for the best" at naptime. I need the "nope nope nope" octopus gif.

So either one of us goes (the other stays with DS while he naps) or we get a babysitter. DH's BFF's daughter's (got that?) first birthday party was from 12-3 an hour drive away, we left DS with my mom.

[carolinagirl831]

I'd go but DDs weekend nap schedule is flexible.
Even at 16 months, if she's tired I can walk her around the block in her stroller and she could sleep 2 plus hours in it

[cinco]

We go and leave early depending on how nuts they are acting.

[Deleted]

I go, hope for car naps on the way there and the way home, and plan on an earlier bedtime.

DS can usually hold it together through a missed nap, it's around 4 or 5 he starts to break down so he goes to bed earlier to help.

[Velar Fricative]

We would go, DD is kinda wonky with her nap "schedule" and we are fortunate so far that naps (or lack of) don't negatively impact her bedtime. Even if they did, if we don't see these people often I would consider this enough of a special occasion to warrant not following a schedule.

But I would bring a stroller or travel crib just in case he wants to nap.

[formerlyllizzyb]

I'd try for an earlier nap, which in our case would be 11, and plan on being in attendance from1-3.

[gibbinator]

We go and just plan to watch a movie when we get home. Being around family outdoors I know ds would be in a good mood at least while out. He manages without a nap pretty well until about 5pm.

[spk926]

How far is it? If it's an hour or more away I would hope DD would get a little nap on the way there and on the way back and then just deal with whatever comes up that night.

If it's super close then I might stop over for a little but but leave and go home to put him down for a nap.

[galaxy8227]

We often would wake DS up earlier, take him to the park and try to wear him out and put him down for an earlier nap if possible. We would still go and possibly just plan on leaving early if he got really fussy.

How far away is the party?

[docholly]

We go. Most of the time those types of events are so "fun" that the kids don't put up a fuss about missing nap. I normally just do an earlier bedtime that day,

[Ashley&Scott]

M generally naps from 12-2. So in your situation we would either try to get him to nap a little early (say 11-12:30, arriving late to the party) or I would leave a little early so he could take a short nap a little later in the afternoon. (2:30-4pm)

[ladygrey]

I would go right away and stay for as long as I could before my kid started to completely melt down.