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AIBU?

To think that if you invite someone over for a 'sleepover' you give them a mattress, some cushions or a lilo to sleep on?

142 replies

whippet · 22/10/2009 20:37

And not just show them the floor

DS was invited to a friend's house for a sleepover last night. Came back today grumpy and tearful, and it turns out he and the other boy who'd been invited were both told they could put their sleeping bags on the floor of the invitee's bedroom to sleep.
(Child whose house it was slept in his own bed)

He says he was cold, and the floor was hard, and he didn't sleep at all .

He's 9, and not new to sleepovers. But if we have his friends over I aways make sure they have either a futon mattress, a lilo, or at worst, the sofa cushions to sleep on.
I assumed this was the norm?

I'm a bit annoyed that the mum didn't even mention it - I could have easily given him a lilo to take!

OP posts:

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whippet · 22/10/2009 20:38

Sorry - I think I meant inviters bedroom - anyway - the kid whose house it was!

OP posts:

bigchris · 22/10/2009 20:39

it's the sort of thing i would have done tbh
lesson learned to take lilo with him
or a ready bed?

whippet · 22/10/2009 20:41

Too big for a ready bed - is 5 ft!

Do you mean you would have put them on the floor, or taken a ready bed?

OP posts:

AnyGhoulKno · 22/10/2009 20:42

When I saw thread title I thought you meant as an adult...

For a child I wouldn't have thought it was so bad. Presumably the floor was carpeted?

Lilymaid · 22/10/2009 20:42

I've always provided a Z-bed or chair that converts into a bed or similar plus a pillow (unless they bring their own). Lilo OK too if you don't have anything better.
Teenagers don't mind sleeping on the floor wrapped in a towel, but younger children need somewhere reasonable to sleep.
Presume it was a half term sleepover?

IMoveTheStarsForNoOne · 22/10/2009 20:43

Standard practice for me i'm afraid, we don't have anything else for people to sleep on (not sleepovers with kids, when friends stay over)

When I was a kid we generally slept on the floor at friends houses- we got a rug or a spare duvet to sleep on sometimes.

mamalamode · 22/10/2009 20:43

Unresonable on their part like you said if you knew that you would send lilo,cushions etc but no way would I allow that and my son is 4 and has only has his cousin over and we never had a bed but I asked my sister to provide a pull out chair bed explained why and then padded it out and made sure she was warm and comfy for the night. so I would be upset as well your poor son. xx

Bleatblurt · 22/10/2009 20:43

Most sleepovers I went to as a child were just on the floor with my sleeping bag. I can't actually remember EVER being offered anything else and there were a lot of sleepovers!

TspookyChasm · 22/10/2009 20:44

I would expect something to sleep on too!

I haven't delved into the stressful world of sleep overs though so have no idea what is the done thing. But no way would I have anyone sleeping directly on the rock hard floor. Poor chap

LittleSarah · 22/10/2009 20:46

I think if I couldn't provide a bed or similar I would mention it the parents so they could give him something, may just be me but it seems very harsh to make a child sleep on the floor. In fact I don't think I could sleep in my warm, cosy bed knowing some poor child was on the floor.

woozlet · 22/10/2009 20:46

erm, thinking back to my own childhood now, we did sleep (or not - we'd sometimes stay up all night) on the floor a lot but we had large sleepovers with say 6-8 girls there. If there were just a few of us then yes I think we had something to sleep on.

I can sympathise, I still remember being cold and uncomfy staying over in other people's houses, or needing the loo but not wanting to get up to go and possibly wake folk up, etc, etc.

Hulababy · 22/10/2009 20:46

I couldn't ask anyone to sleep on the floor in my home ould ahev to at least give them a sofa to sleep on.

At home we have a spare single - DD's bottom bunk - for child guests, a double futon, a double blow up bed, a single blow up and also DD's ready bed. And we have about 4 spare pillows - all our old ones generally.

If DD is invited for a sleepover always check if they need me to send her ready bed wth her.

TBH I'd be pretty annoyed if DD had been expected to sleep on a hard floor.

Hullygully · 22/10/2009 20:46

Good lord, what a lot of softies. my dc's friends get to sleep naked in a muddy field with the llamas.

ShinyAndNew · 22/10/2009 20:47

Well last time dd1 had a sleep over she kicked her friend out of her bed made her sleep on the floor.

The time before that the airbed deflated during the night and all four of them woke up on the floor.

It's not generally something I would do. We always try to find somewhere comfy for guests to sleep. But I wouldn't be upset by dd1 sleeping on the floor at her friends house.

Like Butterball, almost of my childhood sleepovers were on the floor or topping and tailing.

Hulababy · 22/10/2009 20:48

You can pick up a cheap single blow up bed, to store for such purchases, for about a tenner.

whippet · 22/10/2009 20:49

Yes - half term sleepover, and he was really looking forward to it, but as it was, we ended up having to cancel our plans for today as he was so shattered.

What's worse it that they only live a couple of streets away, and DS said he was lying awake wondering if he should have crept downstairs and phoned us to ask us to come and get him

Sleepovers are massively overrated IMHO....

OP posts:

Hulababy · 22/10/2009 20:49

Top and tail and sharing bed wouldn't bother me in the slightest. Sleeping on the floor just isnt nice. So IMO mum should have mentioned it so your DS at least had chance to bring a blow up with him.

I hate camping because of teh discomfort and I at least had a mat thing then.

LittleSarah · 22/10/2009 20:52

Reading some of the other posts I do wonder if I am a bit precious! But personally I wouldn't like it.

BigMomma3 · 22/10/2009 20:52

Huh all the sleepovers that I have had for DD and I can't ever remember an occasion where any of the invitees or their parents have ever even offered to bring a sleeping bag let alone a lilo and I have had two recently where there were 4 guests!!

I would expect that if they were invited that they would be provided with sleeping equipment (although I do always ask when DD is invited) as if there is nothing for them to sleep on then don't invite. I would hate to think of any guest to our house being uncomfortable.

whippet · 22/10/2009 20:53

Hula - yes - Ds goes camping with cubs and is fine with his camping mat.

I can remember odd occasions of sleeping on floors as a student and that horrible feeling of not being able to get comfortable, and having the floor dig into your bones if you turned over.....

Not nice.

OP posts:

brummiemummie · 22/10/2009 20:55

I wouldn't even have thought twice about it tbh. When DCs friends sleep over here they generally sleep on the camp bed, but at friends houses they have slept on the floor in their sleeping bags, especially when more than one is staying the night. DD had 4 friends over for the night for her 10th birthday, and they all slept on the floor. It's standard ime, I have never even considered it wasn't.

Saying that, I think it was quite bad manners for the boy whose house it was to have a good nights sleep while the other two suffered on the floor. If my DS had 2 friends over to sleep, he would sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag, and the two staying the night would have his bed and a camp bed.

I would ask in future. If its not a problem for DS to take a lilo, then he can do that in future if nothing else will be provided.

summerisover · 22/10/2009 20:56

sometimes I think we wrap our kids up in cotton wool too much!

It was a sleepover, they had their sleeping bags....it should have been a great adventure....

On the floor is fine....I'm sure your son will get over it....

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brimfull · 22/10/2009 20:57

I don't see a problem with it as long as there is carpet.

I would personally offer cushions or mattress but I wouldn't think it unkind if another mum had expected my dc to sleep on the floor.

nymphadora · 22/10/2009 20:59

I had some of dd2s friends to sleep (7) and they were gutted they both had a bed. They were all lined up on the floor BETWEEN the bed

MacaroonIncident · 22/10/2009 21:00

OP i SO AGREE WITH TOU
ds hazd a floor! shit! as the invitee was in his bed

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