My seven-year-old daughter recently made a new best friend and I was thrilled. I hit it off with the girl’s mum straightaway. She’s a busy working mum, like me, and we can actually have real conversations, rather than the polite small talk I’m forced to make with the other mums at the school.
So the new best friend – let’s call her Violet – came for a sleepover last weekend. It was my daughter’s first sleepover. I did my usual half-arsed last-minute clean-up, which involved shoving all the mess into my bedroom and closing the door.
When Violet arrived, she went around snooping the house.
Listen: Holly Wainwright navigates a tricky parenting question – what do you do when your daughter wants to go to a sleepover but you don’t know the parents?
“Don’t go in there,” I warned as she got close to my bedroom.
She went in there.
“Wow, this is really messy,” she announced.
Yeah, well, I told you to keep out, didn’t I?
I had this vague idea that I might get a bit of time to myself as Violet and my daughter kept each other amused. But I spent the whole time trying to keep Violet out of trouble.
“Oh, wait, don’t go out in the backyard till I’ve checked for dog poo. Wait! Oh, what? You’ve just stepped in it? Okay, let me clean your shoe.” Because I love cleaning dog poo off kids’ shoes.
I followed Cyclone Violet around the house. She wanted to build a cubby house. Great. But did she really need to drag out every sheet I own for something that was only going to keep her amused for five minutes?
Top Comments
Ugh... I totally get you. My son is socially awkward. He's a great kid, but for reasons I won't get into for this post, he has trouble making friends. Because of this, I am finding myself constantly making playdates with different kids in his class in hopes that he will eventually become more accepted. For these playdates I also make myself available to help entertain... and more times than not, the kid will do things similar to violet and ignore me if i tell them not to do somrthing. most ofmy sons friends are also 7 years old, maybe it is an age thing? Anyway, I'm thinking they just want to push the limits, to see what they can get away with. I'm not sure hat to do either but it really sucks for me because I feel like these playdates are needed to help my son socially.
She may have been overly annoying true, but I agree you need ground rules. Also as this is the first sleep over you should know kids like exploring, do require you to entertain them and will state facts without ill intent.
However, be aware that the reverse sleep over is potentially worse. We have had our son at 7 being allowed to watch MA movies and play call of duty. Our other son somehow learnt all about periods and sex from his play dates older brother.
Sleepovers are banned, it is too hard.