You know how it goes…
You plan a lovely afternoon playdate, or even an adventure to the park or the zoo. The children play together beautifully, taking turns, sharing toys, using manners. The Mommies have time to start and finish complete conversations, time to sit on a park bench or curl up on the couch for an afternoon chat. But, it’s a set up.
After such a long, successful day, one of the kids will approach one of the Mommies with The Plan. They have it all worked out. They’ve planned dinner (usually McDonald’s or Taco Bell-something “easy” for the Mom). They’ve planned the sleeping arrangments, and sometimes those over-achiever types have even planned activities for the evening. They have reasons why TONIGHT is the BEST NIGHT for a sleepover, and why it MIGHT NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN-as well as HOW LONG it has been since the last sleepover. They look at the Mommies with sweet puppy dog eyes, and a very long Plleeeaaase, as if any of that makes a difference.
Little do they know…
Sometimes, it does.
The Mommies seem to always reply with a “We’ll see, go play and we’ll talk about it.” You can almost always see the mental high five as the kids turn, make eye contact, and smirk. I’ve even caught a silent, “Yessss!” when they think they’ve been successful.
Tonight, I fell victim to the Sleepover Shake Down. What can I say? I’m a sucker for Summer, and sometimes it’s nice to see the little children put one over on us Clueless Moms.
I guess since my son is only 9 months old I’m not to the stage yet but I never understood why this was such a big deal. My husband & I were talking and our parents never let us do this & I still don’t get why parents don’t like unplanned sleepovers. Can someone clue me in?
For me, I hate the awkwardness that the abrupt invitation can cause sometimes. When it’s brought up to the two moms at the same time, and neither knows the other’s plans – or maybe doesn’t even know eachother that well…awkwardness. That’s all.
At about age 10 girls want to have a sleepover every night if they can. I don’t really mind the unplanned sleepover once everyone is old enough to take care of themselves–eating, getting to bed or not etc. At some point though, you just want to have your house to yourself so occasionally we turn these down—that usually results in them going to the other person’s house though–which is even better.