Tell them yes but you will not be available to drive them any where. They either stay local or the kids don't sleep over. Or say no and explain that you are leaving for vacation in a few days and you don't have the bandwidth at this time. |
| This would be a hard no for me. |
| Why do people make going on vacation into some big ordeal. You are leaving your house and going somewhere for a short period of time not moving to a remote island where you will be isolated from the world for months at a time. |
Selfish |
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How are so many of you so easily overwhelmed? They come over in early evening and leave in the morning. They are 13 years old!
I’d hate to see you in a crisis. |
| Would not be a problem for us and we've done it before. We don't really get stressed before a trip and at 2 days out, we are 95% ready. So a sleepover or driving DS around doesn't really impact anything. Regardless if a trip or not, DS knows he's responsible for cleaning up after himself and friends. |
This website seems full of people like my mom. Their anxiety and control issues make it so they literally cannot act normally about things. Everything is at least twice as difficult. No surprise, she's absolutely awful in a crisis. Her over reaction and stress ends up adding to the crisis vs helping. |
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I think it is fine to say no. Better that, than to feel overwhelmed and snappy (speaking more of myself as usually I am stressed out before a big trip, as it is)
Is there an alternative that could work? Somewhere the girls would really like to go or do that you could drive them to and pay for? Would fulfill DD’s desire to reciprocate and may be less inconvenient in the end. If I did agree to the sleepover, it would be under the condition that DD helps take some trip prep off my plate withOUT complaining. For example, I like to leave a clean house when before travel- so if she could make sure her room is clean after the sleepover + do a couple of other tasks (go through fridge and throw perishables out or whatever). |
Same here. But we have a small old house where sound easily travels so if they are up all night all of us would hear it. Even with normal talking or baking in the night. I don’t want to be extra sleep deprived right before vacation because of this. |
| I'd be more worried about my daughter catching something and missing the trip. |
NP: I’m pretty relaxed, but I hate hosting sleepovers. Our house just is not setup well for it- all the bedrooms are in the same hall, and we don’t have a big rec room like some. Either they sleep in the bedroom and I am kept awake from the noise, or they are camped out in the family room which is right off the kitchen. Which would be even more annoying than usual, when packing and cleaning for a trip. I still let my kids have sleepovers sometimes, but I find it is an imposition. |
Preach Why is this so hard for people? How have they raised a human to 13 without learning the simple art of packing and preparing their house? |
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I would. It’s an easy way to repay the hospitality, but agree you can also host without a sleepover.
You’d feel silly later in life for worrying about your vacation checklist vs. fostering good friendships for your kid. |
Tell your daughter what you're capable of offering and ask if that vision matches hers for a sleepover, or if she'd rather have the sleepover later in the summer when you're more available. |
| Yes it’s fine. |