The family sleepover solution
I was in no rush to send my eldest for his first sleepover. He’s a homebody and he is especially fond of his bed — the same bed (sheets, pillow, blankets, everything) he’s had since he was a year old.
He once cried before a family vacation and begged to come home the same day because he thought he’d miss his “cozy, cozy bed.” I certainly didn’t want to get woken up in the middle of the night with a phone call to come retrieve him from a friend’s house. Heck, a phone call after 9 p.m. would be annoying.
I also wasn’t eager to host a sleepover here. What if our little guest cried at bedtime and I had to make the decision to call their parents or see if they’d perk up with another story? What if they took the idea of being homesick literally and threw up all over the bedding? What if they woke me up every half hour saying they couldn’t sleep?
What’s the right age for the first sleepover, anyway? Do you wait until your kids are old enough to understand a sleepover and beg for one? Do you suggest it, all on your own, as something they should try?
The perfect solution, I discovered, is the “family sleepover” …
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