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August 18, 2006
Fine Art Friday
I am a big proponent of the nap. I'd like to live in a culture where that is accepted. Where the immediate response to my admission of daily napping would not be raised eyebrows and an asuumption that there must be something wrong with me.
No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap. ~Carrie Snow
When anyone asks me about homeschooling tips, my first tip is always this: Set aside a "quiet time" (Lordy, don't call it nap time, or you'll foment rebellion!) immediately following lunch. Quiet time means everyone goes to his own room, lies down on the bed and sleeps, reads, contemplates, draws, whatever, for the assigned period of time. But there is no talking. And quiet time goes for the mom, too. It's not the time for you to "hurry and get work done" before the kids get up. It's a time for a spot of relaxation after the work of the morning and before the work of the afternoon. Trust me, you're working enough. Most of the successful homeschoolers I have known, long-term, have implemented something similar to this.
There is more refreshment and stimulation in a nap, even of the briefest, than in all the alcohol ever distilled. ~Edward Lucas
When you grow up somewhere really hot--like West Texas (and its not as hot as some!)--you learn to come in and rest during the hottest part of the day. When it's 106 degrees, and the asphalt is getting sticky feeling on the bottom of your sneakers, it's time to come in, stretch out and read a few comic books. The light lasts a long time in the summer around here, and you can always play some more when your mom shoos you out of the house while she's cooking dinner. And the best playing of all is after supper until the street lights come on--the universal childhood signal of "time to head home."
A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book. ~Irish Proverb
Now we're doing it again with the McKid. Rest time after lunch. Almost every day. And almost every day, Mama T stretches out on the couch, reads a chapter in the book she is in the midst of, and dozes off for a nap. And I feel the better for it. Maybe I need to start a "No Guilt Nap Movement" with pins and bumper stickers that say "I Nap and I'm Proud of It!" Think I could get members? Probably not, in our overly busy, rush-rush society. No one wants to admit they're like me.
Now, blessings light on him that first invented sleep! It covers a man all over, thoughts and all, like a cloak; it is meat for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, heat for the cold, and cold for the hot. It is the current coin that purchases all the pleasures of the world cheap, and the balance that sets the king and the shepherd, the fool and the wise man, even. ~Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, 1605
Posted by MamaT at August 18, 2006 7:35 AM
Comments
That's beautiful artwork indeed. And I'm suddenly feeling very sleepy....
Posted by: TSO at August 18, 2006 8:58 AM
I love this painting. I need to order a print of it- it is the exact color of my room. Viva la nap!
Posted by: Marsha at August 18, 2006 9:19 AM
I too love naps. I will often doze off on a Sunday afternoon while working the NYT crossword, or on Saturday for no reason at all. I've even been known to lay my head on my desk here at work for a 20-minute nod-off. Though I try not to do that too often!! Wouldn't want to get caught!
Posted by: Lee Anne Millinger at August 18, 2006 12:22 PM
There is more refreshment and stimulation in a nap, even of the briefest, than in all the alcohol ever distilled.
I'm going to have to take issue with this one item.
Posted by: William Luse at August 20, 2006 1:58 AM
I'm with Bill, that's just wrong.
But just as some praises of Our Lady sound a bit too enthusiastic (i.e. to the point of blasphemy), so too is Mr. Lucas being hyperbolic in his love for naps.
Posted by: TSO at August 21, 2006 12:00 PM