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March 8, 2008

Ready for national napping day?

By Susan Brittingham

Wouldn’t it be great to bring a blankie to your place of work and take a nap in the middle of the day?

Not many bosses would let an employee get by with that, even if Monday is National Napping Day and people will be tired because they lost an hour of sleep due to the change in Daylight Savings Time.

But if you’re a kindergarten student working hard at Washington Early Education Childhood Center, you can bring a blankie and take a restoring nap every day.

“These kids really work, and they work hard,” Joanie Lecrone, teacher’s aide, said. “Kindergarten isn’t just about socialization any more. These kids can all read and they have homework. Kindergarten isn’t half a day anymore. It’s all day long and the kids get tired.

“They need this quiet time and quite a lot of them actually go to sleep.”

Five-year-old Lane Crouch really enjoys nap time. After a full morning spent learning the sounds letters make, how to write those letters and all kinds of other stuff, he’s tired. In fact, he’s so tired that “I don’t even dream. I just lay down on my Spiderman blanket and go to sleep.”

Then he wakes up all refreshed and ready to spend the afternoon learning more fascinating things about our world. And even though he looks forward to those daily naps, Lane isn’t concerned about losing them when he goes into the first grade next year.

First grade means nap time at school is over with — forever. “I’ll be a big boy then,” Lane said. “I won’t need a nap when I’m a big boy.”

His classmate Kamryn Higgs said that at 6, she’s already a big girl and naps are for little girls. “I just lay there, awake,” she said. “I don’t get tired. When the bell rings and it’s time to get up, I’m the first one to pop up.

“I don’t need a nap at all.”

But Lecrone, the teacher’s aide, is a big girl and she said she’d love the opportunity to take a nap during the day. If she could, she would be joining some esteemed company. Some famous nappers through the years have included President John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison, Napoleon Bonaparte, President Bill Clinton and President Ronald Reagan.

Even though the lights are turned off and soft music plays during quiet time, all the teachers and teacher’s aides at Washington stay awake, watching over the students as they sleep.

Students and lucky adults aren’t the only mammals in the world who take naps and enjoy sleeping. Animals sleep, too, and some of them have some rather strange habits. Here are some interesting facts from Sylvan Dell, featured in the book “Animals are Sleeping.”

• Giraffes sleep about five minutes at a time, only six times a day — and they do it while standing up.

• Harbor seals can sleep while bobbing like buoys in icy ocean water.

• Creatures like lions, sloths and koalas can sleep up to 20 hours a day.

• The common swift bird can sleep while flying, flapping its wings every four seconds.

For more information on National Napping Day, visit www.napping.com/napping-day.html.

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