• Sleep overs, the thought of them makes me cringe.

    My mother in law is constantly hounding me to let my daughter (who’s four) spend the weekend at her house. I just can’t bring myself to let it happen. Here are my reasons: I am pretty against allowing my four year old to sleep with me. Mom in law has already said that my daughter would be sleeping in her bed. I am adamant about my kids not drinking soda, and again Mom in law doesn’t see a problem with giving it to her. There is the fact that Mom in law lives over an hour away. That seems a bit far for a four year old to be away from mom in dad. What if something happened while she was there? I couldn’t be there for over an hour? Don’t think so.

    All of this aside, those first sleep overs can be a big deal. Not only do you have to trust the parents (or whoever) your child will be staying with, but you have to asses whether or not your child is ready for the stay. In fact, you also need to consider if you are ready for the stay too. If your little one still wakes up with night mares, then maybe it’s not quite time yet. You might feel like a killjoy for denying what your child perceives as fun, but you’re the parent and ultimately know what’s best for your kids. Chose somewhere close for the first sleep over. This way if in the middle of the night your child wakes up scared and wanting to go home, it’s not that big of a deal. Trust your judgment, if something feels off, it probably is.