Remember When Sleepovers were Fun?

Tonight my daughter (she's 9) is having her best friend sleepover. She's been talking about it all week.

And I'm excited for her, because I remember what it was like to have a sleepover as a kid.

First there was the asking phase... not sure whether your Mom or Dad would go for it.

And then they do agree but... they have to ask your friend's parent to see if they would go for it.

And when the heavens align and everyone is in agreement - boom... it's like the seas part and the true magic happens.

Then comes the anticipation.

Whether you asked for a sleepover the same day (and your parents had to be in a REALLY good mood for that to happen) or if you know the sleepover is coming in a few days or on the weekend (as is the case for my daughter - she's known this was happening since the beginning of the week)... you still feel that excited sense of anticipation.

And then as we got older, the idea of sleeping over at a friend's house lost its luster (only slightly though) and became more of an excuse to just hang out longer.

When I was in high school, one of my friends had an authentic, full-size Sioux Tipi in his backyard that we used to camp out in, with a fire in the middle and everything. We could fit 5 of us in this thing with no problem, probably more. It was truly amazing.

And we didn't even have to ask at that point, we would just tell our parents... "Hey Mom, I'm going out and am staying in Andy's Tipi tonight..."

And then came college, and sleeping over took on an entirely different meaning, whether you were invited to "spend the night" with a boy or girl you really liked, or you just drank too much and ended up crashing on a friend's couch...

And here I am, hosting a sleepover from the perspective of an adult/chaperon.

We've come full circle.

Thankfully, my daughter has outgrown the times from not so long ago when a sleepover meant lots of screaming and yelling and running and generally driving Mom and Dad nuts.

But it still will require pizza, a movie, and a batch of homemade pancakes in the morning.

So that's my plan for tonight and tomorrow.

But here's the thing. Even though I hinted with the subject line of this email that sleepovers aren't fun anymore... they are.

They are fun for my daughter.

They are fun for her friend.

And most of all, they are fun for us as parents when we get to see our kids grow up right before our eyes.

I love that my daughter has so much fun hanging out with her best friend, and is able to deepen their bond in a way that just hanging out at school can't do alone.

And not only that, I know that my daughter appreciates that my Wife and I let her have this time with her friend and support her by facilitating the sleepover as well...

Sorry this was a bit more of a sentimental and nostalgic email.

But sometimes that's how I roll.

Hope you have a great Friday, and an amazing weekend!

Jim

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