I work at a school where the preschool/preK teacher is not allowed to rub backs at naptime. Is there anything wrong with doing this? The owner seems to feel that the children should be able to fall asleep on their own, which many of them do. For the few that don't shouldn't we be doing this simple thing which only takes 5-10 minutes and gets the needed result?

there are many reasons, first and foremost, touching of any child can be questioned and deemed innapropriate. It is impossible to do for one and not all, ten minutes for one child X 10 or more, not reasonable to expect this. Developmentaly speaking they need to learn to self sooth.

I work for a daycare and we rub backs.:)

Touching children can result in serious law suits in today's society and climate of sue crazy people, It merely takes one child to claim it was unwanted or it made them feel wrong.

In preschool depending on your state the ratio child to teacher can be as much as 15 to 1. When the year begins back rubbing my be needed to help the child calm and get to sleep. By the end of the year back rubbing is rare. To the issue of law suits. Your center should have policies set that establish the amount of light in the room and placement of the nap cot so the supervision is always in full view. My state has these as part of the license agreement.