As long as you can continue the practice do not allow the children to
get "too old" for an afternoon rest. Even if he can not sleep, to lie
down and relax will be of very definite value to health and bodily
resistance of disease. If you are encouraging the cultivation of "the
silence" and periods of constructive thought this can be combined with
the rest period.
Rest and relaxation should be synonymous. To be able to relax
thoroughly is of great value in the strenuous years of later life
and should be cultivated and become habitual when young. In order
that the child's sleep shall be of utmost value teach him to practice
relaxation upon lying down and always doing so before falling asleep.
This, coupled with a positive mental attitude, will make his sleep most
profitable.
Never allow the child to go to sleep in anger or fright. Take time to
change all negative mental conditions to positive ones before you leave
him. Unless unavoidable he should not be punished before retiring. The
mental attitude in which he falls asleep will continue through the
night. Experiments have proven that fear, worry, hate, etc., produce
an actual poison in the blood and it affects the bodily condition, of
course. Blood taken from a man while in a fit of anger and injected
into a rabbit will kill the rabbit almost immediately. These facts are
not new but they need to be taken more into consideration in training
children.