Parents, have your kids broken the "sleepover barriar"?

Max is still too young for a real sleepover. He did spend the night with his cousins who are close in age for Valentine’s day though. I believe it’s a lot harder on me than on him though.

My daughter first went on a sleepover when she was five, but she is a brave and self-possessed soul. She went to her first “sleep-away” camp without me when she was seven for a whole week. She was fine but it almost killed me.

My son still doesn’t do well at sleepovers at the age of 14. It used to be he got scared and would call me to come get him at 2 in the morning. Now he gets into fights with the other kids and they call me to come get him at 2 in the morning. He’s bipolar and very emotionally immature

And I have had kids spend the night at our house. Actually, the cousins spent a whole weekend one time. I was exhausted – I thought they would never go to sleep. Then in the morning they ate everything that wasn’t under lock and key.

My kids have enjoyed sleepovers since they were 3, mostly at grandmas but around 5yrs with friends. Now I can’t seem to get their friends out of my house. Im the only mom that will let people over pretty much 99% of the time, and up to 5 kids. I don’t mind though, unless the friends are loud or obnoxious. Then they get banned.
My daughter had one girl on her cheer squad that would never sleep at anyones house. She missed out on a lot of team bonding and it really segregated her from the others.

I didn’t count sleepovers at grandma’s house or at the cousin’s house. Those are family and so the sleepover terrors don’t strike. My daughter was as young as three at their houses.

Grandma’s house was particularly fun, because, as my daughter put it, Grandma has an “alligator.” By this she meant an elevator.

My daughter is 12, has been doing it since I don’t even know, and does it regularly. Maybe it’s a girl thing. My son is 9, and hasn’t done it except at Grandparents’ and cousins’. He wants to have a friend his age over, but that boys mother thinks he’s not ready. I think the mom is not ready.

All 3 started spending the night elsewhere long ago. The first time there were no kids in the house, it was so weird! The quality of the silence is so different, not like the quiet you ‘hear’ when they’re sleeping. Tonight their father has a gig (he’s a drummer) so the younger two are at grandma’s house, and the oldest is staying with a friend. They all have friends sleep over at their (dad’s) house, but not at mine. It’s too far for most of their friends to travel, and too small for more than the five of us.

Yesterday was our anniversary and we totally tailored our plans to be home in time to have our son’s friend come over. He is 5, it’s the first time he’s had a friend spend the night. He was so excited. It was worth a different set of plans to see his excitement. They had fun, we made things and they helped me make breakfast this morning. My son was worn out today!

My daughter is 15, we crossed that bridge a long time ago! Her friends usually want to stay here, though. We’d LOVE for a full weekend at other people’s house!