Comments on: Sleepovers – Sorta

By: Katey

Katey — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:00:07 +0000

My mother is an overly protective parent. She just gives the automatic no to every sleep over party. ( Even if she knows them very well) Ive never ever ever ever been to a sleep over before….

By: Tina

Tina — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:26:15 +0000

Firstly, we only allow sleepovers during the school holidays, otherwise they want to do it all the time.
Secondly, we don’t let them sleep over school friends’ houses. They can only stay with our close friends from our Christian meetings.
Thirdly, we prefer to host the sleepovers so we can make sure they actually get some sleep. We send them to bed at 11pm and insist that they go to sleep. It usually works, depending on which friends sleep over.
Fourthly we limit the number of girls invited to about 6. Not all of them come so it ends up manageable – last time only 3 came.
So far only my 11 year old is having sleepovers. I’m waiting for my others to stop wetting the bed before they can have one or go to one.

By: Heather

Heather — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:20:18 +0000

Carrie, I have to mention some ladies I know of who had a mother/toddler sleepover. The moms and the kids stayed over together and reported a marvelous time. My daughters and I have had a backyard camp out with my friend and her daughter. It is a great way to keep an eye on your own and have fun, too. As far as regular sleepovers go, it’s reserved for close friends, family and scouts, but I am a leader so that’s covered.

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:06:25 +0000

I grew up hosting sleepovers regularly and sleeping over at others houses often…LOVED it…most of the time. Never really had bad things happen except I did break my parents rules when I went over to a friends house whose parents never watched us. We would leave the house and walk miles away to stores and stuff and they didn’t care. My parents would have had a heart attack.

Honestly the only time I was ever exposed to a sexual predator was in my own home at a Bible Study we hosted…one of the “brothers” called me into a bedroom and exposed himself to me…I was 5 or 6.

Now…I am scared that my son will ask to play/stay at someone’s house that has guns. We have a couple guns in our house but they are locked up, not loaded and there is no ammunition even in the house. I can totally see my son “playing” with guns if he had the chance though. EVERYONE has guns in this area of the country it seems…I wonder if we should put him in shooting classes so he can learn about how dangerous they are and how to handle them.

My daughter starts school this month and will make friends I am sure…I dread the day she asks me. We may end up having a no sleepover rule.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:22:02 +0000

Just a word of caution. I was sexually abused when staying over at my aunt and uncle’s house. We weren’t really that close to these cousins, but since it was family, my parents thought it would be ok. IT WASN’T, I was abused by a male cousin who wasn’t much older than me. I wasn’t really able to stay over anywhere after that. My kids are still pretty little and I do let them stay with people who we trust implicitly, but I ask tons of questions and am very cautious. We probably won’t be letting them stay with school friends, I’m too paranoid. just my 2 cents.

By: Vera Raposo

Vera Raposo — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:47:41 +0000

You know it doesn’t get any easier as they get either older because my thoughts wander to… “What if a friends father takes interest in my teenager.” This parenting thing is not easy. I do allow sleepovers only to close friends and family.

By: Nell @ Casual Friday Everyday

Nell @ Casual Friday Everyday — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:24:49 +0000

My husband and I both agree that the only sleep overs will be with Grandparents on special occasions. We may be anal by some people’s standards, but I’d rather be protective of my kids minds, hearts and bodies than be lax and something to happen.

I’ve had experiences that I should have never been exposed to during sleep overs and playing at friends houses during the day and my husband got into his fair share of trouble as a teen sleeping over.

Not that those things happen to everyone but that will give you a little insight into our reasons for the no sleep over rule. We know so much more about the dangers of friends, parents we think we know, popes…etc. And for certain we shouldnt lock our kids away and never let them see the light of day…there are extremes that shouldn’t be taken, but I don’t believe my kids will be scarred for life because they didn’t do sleep overs.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:12:00 +0000

I once read an alternative idea that I thought was great! One of the funnest things about a sleepover is waking up in the morning and eating breakfast/hanging out with your friends. This idea was to have a Good Morning Party. The kids would be dropped off in the morning and they could eat breakfast together, play games, even bring their sleeping bags and watch a movie together. The best part is, you don’t have to worry about your kid being overly tired or cranky in the morning!

By: Treece

Treece — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:04:59 +0000

My girls do sleepovers on a regular basis. Our house is on the smaller side, so we don’t have huge sleepovers here, but they do go to stay at friend’s houses fairly often. On sports teams, it’s enormously important for them to do their girl-bonding thing and be part of the team and their rituals. When they were younger, I was a lot more concerned – now it’s a fun break for everyone.

I personally hate sleepovers at our house because it means no sleep for anyone.

By: Annette

Annette — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:54:50 +0000

Yeah, we’ve never done the sleepover thing except for grandparents. We had a situation once where we were hosting a friend’s daughter out of necessity so we thought we’d make it a sleepover type thing – of course they didn’t sleep and the next day was horrible. We opted for the mock sleepover type things from then on.

It did make it easier to just have a no sleepover policy when the friends with the creepy factor was there, that’s for sure. It’s much easier for the girls too – to just say “Thanks but we don’t do sleepovers”.

I recall a situation similar to yours, Carrie, where I found out after the fact that the dad was an abuser. Still freaks my mom out when we talk about it – that she let me stay in that house overnight on more than one occasion.

By: Patrice London

Patrice London — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:42:56 +0000

I too enjoyed many sleepovers growing up but the fact is, things have changed quite a bit since then and I am not very trusting of people with my children.

I can probably count on one hand how many people I’m completely comfortable with keeping my girls overnight. I’m truly not sure what to do as they get older if and when they are invited to sleepovers. I suppose my husband and I will take it one event at a time. Generally though, I don’t like the idea of my girls not being home.

By: carrie

carrie — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:35:45 +0000

@Alice I was particularly interested in your opinion, because you have in common with me that you’re not overly protective.

You’re right – knowing the parents “well” isn’t enough. And I forgot to list grandparents (my kids only have one set – mine), my kids have slept over at their house many times.

By: Alice Seba

Alice Seba — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:26:26 +0000

My mom had a no sleepover policy for us when we were kids. The only exception was when she knew the parents very well…but of course, that is not always protection. Thankfully, in our case, we never had any problems.

For my kids, they’re still young, so the only sleepovers have been with grandparents and my very good long-time friend who has kids the same age. But if they get invited from school, I’m not sure what I’ll do. I’m thinking that even though I vowed not be as protective as my mom was, I probably will be.