Sleepovers. Love them or hate them?

My daughter’s been having them for years at our house (her gang of 7). We have a tiny house, so we have to boot the boys so the girls can take over the whole upstairs. It’s chaos, and the noise levels approach concert-levels at times. There is very little sleep to be had, and everyone has a great time. I don’t mind them at all, because my daughter enjoys them so much.

@DoNotKnowMuch the tears are usually my daughters’

It depends on who is sleeping over. When I have kids over, my level of happiness directly correlates with the group’s ability to play well together. Kids who have had enough of each other are not fun to spend time with. Kids who do play well together make me happy.

Whenever I have overnight guests (kids or adults), I try to get some alone time in. I can sympathize with needing that! I can always just go take the dogs for a walk, and leave my guests to fend for themselves for half an hour. Of course, that’s not possible with young kids…but those tend to go to bed at a reasonable time, and I stay up pretty late.

If it’s me who’s sleeping over, I enjoy the experience if I’m with my closest friends – or in a hotel. Staying with people I don’t know inside out is pretty much a nightmare, especially if I’m forced to stay for more than one night, and more so if I am on my own with my hosts.

The grandsons are constantly trying to weasel a sleepover here where they invite their friends, but granpa didn’t just recently fall off the turnip truck. Nope, there’s nothing wrong (yet) with my long term memory. When their dad and aunt were younger, I would occasionally submit to such things, and I can tell you that despite the harsh un pc nature of this suggestion, there were certain of my kids’ friends on my “no fly” list.

As a very little kid (6–8 years old), it was fun to be away at a friend’s house. New toys to play with, new rooms to explore. My house certainly didn’t have an dumbwaiter we could ride to the attic!

When I got older, I hated them. It was usually me and my sister both spending the night with other kids from the church. I had to stay as long as my little sister wanted to stay, to make sure she didn’t act up. I didn’t want to be there, I didn’t ask to be there, I wasn’t able to leave. It was horrible.

My house is way too small to have sleepovers in, so I haven’t had to field the parent-side of the issue yet.

I didn’t mind my daughter having one friend, but once, we had a camp out sleepover for like 10 girls. It sucked! haha
Went all out, the girls were all between about 11 and 13 and set up tents, had scads of coolers with soft drinks, BBQ’d hot dogs & burgers, had all sorts of outdoor games for them, water balloons, etc. It was fine for about 2 hours then they got bored and started doing stupid shit like shaking up liter bottles of soda and spraying each other. :-/

They carried on until like 3 o’ clock in the morning and then, the little witches had the NERVE to ask if they could stay longer the next day. ( designated pick up time was 11 a.m. ) NO! The party is OVER now girls. Never again. OMG, it was sheer bedlam. lol

I dislike sleepovers. Mainly because I have very unusual sleep habits and I may risk scaring people off. I’m also intolerant of others’ sleeping habits. Maybe it’s because my bedroom is the ultimate private space and I need some freedom in it.

My daughter is 8 and so her friends are not yet at the age where they’re doing sleepover parties yet. My house is small so I am not sure how it’s going to work when it starts. She has a bunk bed so we definitely have the room for it, despite the house size. What I hear happens is that the kids stay up all night and then the next day they’re exhausted. I’m not looking forward to that crap.

We did sleep over a friend’s yard once, in a tent, which was fun. She was about 5 at the time. A few times, we slept over friends’ houses which was fun, too.

My daughter has been having sleepovers since kindergarten. I’m also an introvert and like my quiet weekends, but if your child has the right friend it can be a blessing because they’ll keep each other occupied.