Most parents know that hosting a sleepover can be a gamble, but it usually doesn’t involve being the unknowing test run for a child’s first night away from home.
She went from birthday party host to crisis counselor after one of her daughter’s friends woke up in the middle of the night at their sleepover in tears, only to be blamed by the girl’s mom for the very meltdown she didn’t cause.
Over the weekend, this woman had a sleepover to celebrate her daughter’s 8th birthday, and her daughter invited a handful of friends to attend.
The evening started off great. She gave the girls snacks, put on movies for them, and tucked them into bed at approximately 10:30 that night.
“But around 1:30 AM, one of them came into my room crying and woke me up (single mom here, so there was no man in the room, don’t worry),” she explained.
“She said she was scared and wanted her mom. While I was trying to calm her down, she told me this was her first time sleeping somewhere new, which was unbeknownst to me and caught me off guard.”
She tried her hardest to make her daughter’s friend feel better. She got her a drink and sat down beside her, but the little girl sobbed so hard she worked herself up and kept stating she wanted to return home.
She gave her a bit of time to calm down, but the little girl was still so upset, and nothing was alleviating her stress.
She didn’t think it was kind or fair to make this little girl sleep somewhere she was unhappy or uncomfortable. So, she made the decision to call her mom and request that she come get her immediately.
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While her mom did come to pick her child up, she was obviously irritated with her. The following morning, this mom texted her, stating she should have waited until the morning, as she feels her daughter is humiliated and no longer interested in participating in a sleepover ever again.
“Where I’m frustrated is that I feel like I was put in a bad position and destined to fail from the start, no matter what,” she continued.
“I wasn’t made aware that this was her first sleepover, and I don’t think it’s fair to use someone else’s house, especially during their child’s birthday party, as the guinea pig without giving a heads-up.”
“I’m not mad at the girl at all. I felt really bad for her. But I also don’t think it was my job to handle that level of distress all night. But I’m wondering if I should’ve just stayed up with her a bit longer to see if she’d go back to sleep and try to push through until morning, as the mom said.”
The first time I slept over at a friend’s house, my mom definitely told my friend’s mom I had never done that before, because that’s what a good mom does.
Shame on that mom for not giving her a heads up, and then blaming her for her daughter not feeling comfortable! That little girl was too overwhelmed, and making her complete the sleepover would have done more harm than good.
What do you think? Was the other mom rude for not telling her this was her daughter’s first time at a sleepover?
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By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
