teenage crate woes (help!)

Hi all! I’ve had dogs my entire life, but this is only the second dog I’ve had as an adult and the second dog I’ve crate trained.

Cassie is my almost 1 year old GSD (halloween birthday) and I love her and her teenage shenanigans to death, but she’s recently started crying after I put her in her crate for a nap. She goes in without protest, knows it’s a good place, gets her meals there etc, but just this last month or so she suddenly really started protesting after being tucked away, usually midday. Night time seems to be okay so long as the house is quiet / the family is going to bed.

I know it’s because she wants to be free and hanging out with my family and I since it’s exclusively when she can hear us talking, but how do I help her settle down instead? I don’t want to tell her “no” while she’s crated and make anything feel like a punishment, so I usually tell her she’s okay and maybe stop by with a treat after she stops for a bit. If she REALLY protests I’ll take her outside on a leash to see if she needs to potty (never does smh), let her sniff somethings, and then put her back.

It would be cool if my family could watch a movie without GSD puppy yelling in the background. what can I do besides wait out the teenage phase? her crate is in the living area of the house in a quiet corner, and the only change to the household was me putting my senior dog down months ago before this.