subject: Preparing Child For Sleepovers [print this page] Many parents struggle with the question of whether to let their kids stay overnight at a friends house. Sometimes the struggle is knowing if your child is ready, and other times it's knowing if the you are emotionally ready to let them go. Sleeping over demonstrates that your baby is growing up and that can be hard for some parents. When you are considering letting your little one go on a sleepover most likely you already know the parents, and are very good friends and feel secure knowing your child will be fine.
The question now is are you ready to let them go? There is no magic age when kids are ready. Most kids welcome a sleep over, but there are some children who may not feel comfortable sleeping away from mom and dad. For a child to fall asleep in someone else's house they need to feel extremely comfortable.
If you are not sure if you or your child is ready for this sleepover experience you may want to try a first fun alternative to a sleepover. It would include doing everything except the sleeping. You have your child's friend or friends come over in their pajamas and have a party. They can do all the fun things they would do at a sleepover, the only difference is the parents would pick them up at an agreed designated time after ten or eleven pm. It's just as fun, and they get to sleep in their own bed.
By trading off at each others house, all the children and parents get use to slowly letting go and giving their children a bit of independence. And as all the children and parents get use to this arrangement, they will soon be ready to really spend the night.
Another easy way to transition into sleepovers with good friends is to plan on staying at their house visiting until it's time for the children to go to bed. By doing this you can be there to tuck them in, once they are tucked in you can leave. Doing this gives everyone a fun night of socializing, and you can trade off houses maybe the next month. Once you have done this a couple times, they won't blink an eye at staying over by themselves. And now you can have babysitting swaps to save money, and have the security of knowing your child is safe.
Some children have no trouble adapting to new surroundings and love sleepovers and don't need any extra encouragement. Others may never warm up to the idea. By using these alternatives for sleepovers you eliminate that dreaded call that many moms receive when their children are not ready to stay the whole night. You are also giving them some independence to build up their self-esteem.
