Not long after her daughter, Kaleigh, turned three, Toronto mom Andrea Joyce stumbled upon a preschool stage nearly all parents dread: the end of naps. Despite being put down at the usual 8 p.m. bedtime, Kaleigh was still wide awake at 9:30 p.m. and driving Mom and Dad crazy. It was time to do away with afternoon slumber.

“I thought, Do I want her to stay up at night or do I want the peace and quiet in the afternoon?” says Joyce now.

At first, Joyce shaved an hour off her daughter’s two-hour nap, waking her mid-snooze, but eventually the nap disappeared entirely. Although there were a few grumpy evenings when Kaleigh had to hit the sack at 7:30 p.m., that phase didn’t last long, says Joyce. Now four, Kaleigh is back to her old 8 p.m. lights-out routine.

Parents love the break kids’ naps provide, but at some point between the ages of three and four the majority of children say adios to dreamland, says Ann Douglas, a Peterborough, Ont., mom of four and author of Sleep Solutions For Your Baby, Toddler, and Preschooler: The Ultimate No-Worry Approach For Each Age and Stage (Wiley). And the transition isn’t easy. Your child may not be sleepy enough for a nap early in the afternoon but turn into an overtired bear by 5 p.m. Or he might nap one day and refuse the next, making bedtime a moving target.

“It’s a really hard and frustrating stage because to you the solution is obvious. If you’re tired all week, you go to bed at 9:30 p.m. to catch up on your sleep. But sleep is the enemy when you’re three,” says Douglas.

So how do you know if your window of uninterrupted laundry-dishes-reading-working-showering-snoozin’ time may soon be a thing of the past?

Elizabeth Pantley, Seattle author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers (McGraw-Hill), says your newly nap-resistant child will:

1. lie in bed for a long time before falling asleep at nap time or never sleep at all
2. usually have a consistent personality until bedtime but be fussy in the evening after an active day
3. take a long time to fall asleep at night on days she has a nap

Until you adjust, here are a few survival strategies to help the whole family make it through the day.

Expect the unexpected
Just like potty training, dropping naps is a messy process, so prepare for some ill-timed sleepiness. If your preschooler won’t sleep at noon but wants to crawl into bed at 4 p.m., take him to the park when droopy eyes hit. Kristin Brander of Dorval, Que., puts her three-year-old son, Dylan, down to bed half an hour earlier at night if he hasn’t had a nap. But don’t put your non-napper down too early – unless you want to ensure a 5 a.m. wake-up call.

Think quiet time
Just because your preschooler isn’t sleeping doesn’t mean it has to be all action, all the time. That’s especially important if you have a younger child who isn’t going to get the nap she needs if her older brother is running around, says Douglas. Try these helpful relaxation tips instead.

1. Draw the curtains, play music or a book on tape and leave the room. Your nap-striker may succumb to sleep while listening to The Paper Bag Princess.
2. If that doesn’t work, try reading a book in bed together. That way you still enjoy downtime. Have a baby to attend to? Time a story with your younger child’s pre-nap nurse or bottle. With any luck the cozy activity will help the baby drop off.
3. And don’t discount the ultimate electronic babysitter – tv – if you’re really craving a break. No, it’s not the most ideal solution, but sometimes we all need a little help from the Backyardigans.

Get some sleep, too
Douglas says a surefire path to burnout is to be sleep-deprived yourself. So forget about doing laundry at midnight. Hire a high-school student to help with chores, hit the hay at a reasonable hour – and remember, this too shall pass.