Tidbits From the Queen of Chaos: Sleepovers

Okay, I am the weird mom that HATES sleepovers. This is so ironic because my mom let me have my best friend sleep at our house every weekend, sometimes both nights. Now I know why we were always at my house. I hate when my kids are at someone else's house, not because I don't trust the parents. Most of them are dear and trusted friends but I don't even like when my kids are at my sister's or my parents or in-laws. Nothing good comes from a sleepover. I don't sleep, they don't sleep and the next day we are all crabby. Both boys usually cough all night long and that is when they are in their beds. If they are in the basement, it is worse. I don't want the boys to sleep anywhere but here because I don't have to worry about them keeping another family up. If their asthma is bad (yes, even though they have Cystic Fibrosis, they have asthma, too), they can't sleep in a house with dogs. Needless to say, a lot of the sleepovers are at my house which I also do not enjoy. When kids are at my house, I have to be "on" and that means when my kids do something they know they are NEVER allowed to do which inevitably happens because they know I won't yell in front of the other kid, I can't react the way I normally would. Instead I have to grit my teeth and while looking like I am smiling and say nicely, "Tommy, Honey, we don't pretend that the couch is a swimming pool and jump from the arm of it onto the cushion or Belle, Sweetie, you cannot play make-up using my make-up or No, Nico, you can't play ghosts in the graveyard on the prairie path." What I really want to say is, "Are you insane?? Have I ever let you jump on couches, use my make-up or play in the dark on the prairie path? No. So, why in the world would you think that I'd let you while I am responsible for Little Susie or Little Johnny?" Another reason why I don't enjoy sleepovers with Nico and his friends is that they are very big and they smell really, really bad. My basement needs to be fumigated after they all go home.


The thing that makes me flip my lid is when they either a)ask for one right in front of the kid or parent or b)plan one thinking that once I am faced with all the details ironed out already, I'll have no choice but to say yes or c)ruin whatever time we just had with their parents or them by asking for one (this is usually any time after 10pm). I said before that I don't have a poker face so you would think that my kids, knowing what my face is going to look like when they do this to me, would know this makes me mad and not do it. Nope! If they dare to do any of these, they are banned from having one that night and the following weekend. You don't get rewarded with a sleepover when you were sneaky enough to plan one without permission.

My kids are in no way deprived of social activities. We hang out with friends a lot and how many other kids do you know get to hang out with their friends until midnight because their parents are also hanging out? Why does it always have to be more? If they are with friends all day, they ask, "Can they stay for dinner?" If they have a friend over after dinner, it's, "Can they stay until 10?" If the friend is still here at 10, it's, "Can we have a sleepover?" Ugghhhh!!!!

Is it wrong to want my kids in their own beds so that I know the rest of the weekend won't be cashed with crabby, overtired kids?