Keeping Quiet Time Quiet

Natalie has always been a burrower. Like a rabbit tunneling its den, she drapes the sides of her bunk beds with blankets to make curtains, makes tents with chairs and sheets, and seeks hidden corners for play.

So when nap time morphed into quiet time, which in turn unraveled into a short and not-so-quiet time, I appealed to her fondness for hideaways. She may not need a mid-day snooze anymore, but after a busy morning in kindergarten, downtime is key to a smooth afternoon.

Taking a cue from her Montessori school -- where every classroom has a quiet peace corner for regrouping -- I picked a low-traffic spot in the family room, behind a chair in a corner. Natalie and I lined it with a favorite quilt, then added pillows, a basket of books, stuffed animals, and her tape player. At her request, we bought Dan Gibson's Waterscapes, a soothing recording of waterfalls, ocean waves, and pattering rain to set the mood.

Now, Natalie cheerfully retreats to her nook after school, or whenever she feels like burrowing. She also set up another peace corner in her bedroom, under a window behind her bunk bed. She lined it with her favorite bears and set up a "peace table" -- a low stool with her favorite things on it, including a photo of her and her sisters, a fairy figure, a flower garland. She loves to nest there, drawing, daydreaming, or listening to audiotapes of "Little House on the Prairie." And quiet time is quiet once again.