Preparing for Your Child's Sleep-Overs

For children between the ages of eight and fifteen, sleepovers are amongst the most popular activities. A traditional sleep-over involves food, movies, video-games and other fun stuff. Parental supervision is a big part of this and you will need to look after your child as well as his or her friends – this can be quite the task, especially if there are a bunch of them. Too make sleep-overs easier you can prepare your home for this event.
The key to a good sleepover is a playroom where the kids can have fun and relax. This should have a TV, lots of fun games and carpets and furnishings which are thoroughly damage proof; indeed, a bunch of children can do a whole lot of damage to a room in a short period of time. There should also be some separation between where you are and where the kids are playing – sadly, it’s unlikely you were invited to participate in the fun and they probably want somewhere they can hang out alone. That said, be sure to stay in earshot – you need to supervise them carefully and make sure they don’t break anything.

Food is also an important element of a sleep-over as they generally involve having dinner. Pick up juice, snacks and a fun dinner which everyone will enjoy. Be sure to take into account any food allergies and tastes, after all kids can be very picky when it comes to what they eat. It’s important that your meal be fun, yet also try to keep it reasonably healthy – they don’t need to subsist on junk alone so try and subtly slip some fruit in there as well.

Finally, you need to ensure that everyone gets a good night of sleep. Bunk beds are a good idea, while you can also make use of pull-out sofas and couches – even the floor will work in some cases, after all children are young and springy and will feel no ill effects from a night spent sleeping on the ground. You will also need to have adequate sheets, pillows or sleeping bags – though in case of emergencies you can always have children bring their own.

These steps should have you well prepared for sleep overs – a good playroom, a stocked fridge and bunk beds will make it much easier to withstand this onslaught of kids. This is a good thing as you want to encourage your child to have their friends over whenever possible, sleep overs are a great social experience and your little one will gain so much confidence from having their friends over.