Sleepover party for 8 2nd grade boys??
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| Sat, 01-14-2006 - 1:56am |
Is it just me, with my "special" children, or is this really crazy? David's school friend invited him to a sleepover, and I thought about it for a bit. We have a very rigid bedtime ritual, and even so, David can get pretty weird that time of night. Also, he wears Pull-Ups (or the big kid version)...and also needs a nightly dose of medicine prepared and served in a very particular manner. He needs to be told that he is allowed to put on his pj's and brush his teeth (as if I'd ever say "no"!) Anyway, I figured it might be a bit stressful...but I imagined that the guest list was probably just David and one or two other kids. (Like the sleepovers I went to when I was 10 or 11.)
But, I talked to the mom and she said eight kids were coming. I said, "I don't think we're quite ready for sleepovers just yet." LOL! I didn't even have to say "no" to David; once he heard there would be eight kids, he knew he'd hate it! I'm still amazed that any mom would actually want eight 2nd grade boys sleeping overnight in their 1200 sq ft townhouse. I can barely handle my own two boys!
The mom did say that David could come for the cake and pizza part in the evening and then get picked up to come home. I'll let him do that if he wants, but I don't think he will. He has figured out that when it's more than a few good friends, it's not fun. Some of his unhappiest (while mood stable) moments have been at "best friend's birthday parties". It's kind of a shame, because no one ever seems to want a small party. In fact, his idea of the perfect party is to pretend he's at Metru Nui with all the Bionicle characters, celebrating Mata Nui's birthday. Oh well! Works for me!
Evelyn

Holy crow! That seems VERY young for such a large sleepover. I think it's great, though, that David realized for himself that he wouldn't be happy going, so that you weren't put in a position of having to tell him no (or else let him go and have it be horrible). Sylvia is the same way about preferring to be with small groups. Her birthday party is next weekend and we only invited 3 kids. To be honest, that's about as many 4-year olds as I can handle, anyway, lol!
Actually, Sylvia was just invited to a 4th birthday party, and the invitation says "Drop off 3pm; Pick up 5pm." To me, 4 years seems awfully young for a drop off/pick up party. I certainly wouldn't want to be the mom supervising all those kids, especially once they get all sugared up on birthday cake. I think Sylvie will do okay, but still, I'm going to carry my cell phone and sit at a coffee shop a block away for the entire party, I'm thinking!
Jennifer :)
Jennifer,
When Malcolm was that young, I actually called the mother throwing just such a party and offered to be the parent who stayed and helped. That worked out really well, and I was able to help Malcolm have a better time AND help the mother who really hadn't thought through what she was planning lol...
Evelyn,
How nice that this boy wants to include David in his sleepover, though. Malcolm has done one and two kid sleepovers back and forth very successfully for a few years now, 8 kids would be alot but if he KNEW all the kids well, it would probably be OK. But, as the other poster said, how great that David knows it is not a fun idea for him. That's a self-awareness that will hold him in good stead in the future.
And, as always, your description of his perfect birthday party CRACKED me up.
yours,
Sara
ilovemalcolm
Cait was invited to one when she was that age. That many were invited but only 3 actually went. We did allow her to go and she wanted to. I didn't sleep all night. Non of them have ever been invited to such an event since. Emily has been invited to a couple sleepovers with just her and a friend. All my kids occasionally get invited to grandparents or thier cousins on a 1:1.
Mike goes on sleepovers at his grandparents and you would be amazed at how different he is. The regular routines and such he has with me don't happen. In a different house and with different people the routine is different. The pullup's would be a hard thing to work around. But if he went into the bathroom to change and you gave him a plastic bag to put it in the next morning, no one would really have to be the wiser perhaps.
Renee
I do think second grade is too young for a sleep over party.
Samantha
I have a 2nd grade DD (who is NT). She gets invited to sleepovers (and hosts them), but A LOT of girls her age don't "do sleepovers" and it's just fine. (I don't think that I did it at that age either)! Many will do the pizza and cake earlier in the evening and then head home.
HTH,
Cathy