This weekend, I had the second sleepover in the playroom ever for my kids. I wanted it to be something special and it was also another way to guarantee that the kids stayed out of my wife’s bedroom so she and the newborn can sleep. They earn a sleepover by staying in the room all night without coming out and also to wait until morning to come get me to start the morning without waking anyone up. Usually, this would need to happen five days in a row for a sleepover (timed on Mondays and the sleepover would be Fridays right when the work week stops). The first sleepover followed the earning pattern and this past weekend, I only made the kids follow the rules on Thursday so we could have a sleepover on Friday.

What was originally a fun idea, where I even got the fort set up properly and early where we would sleep, quickly turned into a not-so-pleasant experience. When too many variables change (sleep location, sleep time, sleep items, etc.), my kids go haywire. Even though I was expecting some craziness, it was on another level where because my 3 year old son knew the fort gets too hot, he wanted to sleep on the carpet instead of the sleep sack. He then wanted to change shorts, He then wanted to change his shirt. He then wanted to open up a section of the fort to get airflow. He then wanted to have his rainbow hotdog (a cloth pizza dough toy bent around a set of rainbow popsicle sticks). Every ask was through whining and crying. Lots of crying.

I tried to be patient through the whole ordeal, but I was so tired and grumpy towards the end that I raised my voice to let them know that this fun sleepover is turning into anything but a fun sleepover. I reminded them to be grateful that we were doing this and the crying and whining stopped. After a few minutes of silence, I was feeling bad for raising my voice and apologized to the kids for showing my frustration. Both of my kids said it was ok and they reminded me of some things I should do when I get frustrated - many of the same strategies that I have told them! In the end, we ended up talking about a few other things before drifting off to sleep.

Even though the sleepover got a bit stressful, it was an overall positive experience again. I think my kids enjoy all of the changes and I also saw a side of my kids that gives me confidence that some of the lessons are sticking with them, such as how to manage frustration. Now I just need to make sure the lessons stick with me always!