My two daughters are ages 7 and 9, which is about the start of what I'll call the "Sleep Over Phase". Their friends invite them over to spend the night for birthday parties or fun occasions. In fact, both of my daughters are having sleep-overs tonight, one here at our house, and the other at a trusted friends house.
The first time is always the scariest, and for good reasons. You won't be there to protect your child overnight, and you certainly don't want anything permanently damaging to happen to your child.
Bottom line, no matter how awkward you may feel about saying no to one of your child's friend's parents, it's your JOB and responsibility to protect your child - and this is one area where it's definitely better to be safe than sorry!
We've had to do this a couple of times and never regretted it. One of the parents I said no to even said "Hey, I totally understand... you're the dad and you get to make those kinds of calls."
We're fortunate to live in a small family-oriented community where we know most of the parents of our children's friends. But it's still important to ask questions before agreeing on a sleep-over. Here are a couple that we ask, and that other parents have asked us as well:
- Will the mom be there the whole time? We feel our kids are safest when the mom is present.
- Will there be any brothers or other older boys there? We recently said no to a sleep-over because we learned that a teenage brother would be staying at the house that night.
What are some guidelines that you follow when deciding if it's safe to let your kids stay overnight at a friend's house?
