to be a little miffed at MIL's attitude towards ds's reluctance to sleep at her house on Friday night?

[DrNortherner]

Ds is 9 and a bit of a home boy. Dh and I go out together rarely, if we do he prefers a sitter to come to our house. He is not a kid who enjoys sleeping over at other peoples houses. On Fri dh and I are off to the theatre and I called MIL to ask if she would babysit. She said yes, but she prefers him to go to hers so he can sleep there and she can go to bed at her usual time of 9.30pm.

Anyway, MIl had him for 1 hour today whilst I went to running club and when I got back she told me he had agreed to sleep at hers. Ds piped up 'Wel I think I will, I might change my mind, I'm not sure' MIL sent him out of the room and told me that I should not allow him to change his mind and this reluctance is ridiculous and that I should put my foot down. She said 'I am his Grandmother not some random stranger'

Now I know she is right, she is not a stranger, but, it doesn't sit right with me forcing him to sleep somewhere if he doesn't want/need to.

Thoughts?

What an odd thing to think 2rebecca, not everyone has the same circumstances as your grandparents, and not all older people who live in flats are frail.

The OPs MIL has got a spare room anyway, but it's being used by her 'friend'.

"How come a 9 year old is wrong on his grandmas eyes for bot wanting to sleep in a different bed but she doesn't like sleeping in a different bed either. If its something so normal that a child can sleep anywhere so can she to set an example."

I completely agree. If my dcs said they didn't want to go, then I'd not make them go.

Clearly my DC are spoilt/neglected little blighters then. They have a room each at my house, a shared room at DP's house, a room each at Grandma's and now have a shared room at DP's Mum's house as well.

I'm not sure if they are spoilt for having so many rooms, or neglected because they obviously need all those rooms while I am off gallivanting about

FWIW my DC have been having sleepovers (mainly at Grandma's) since they were quite young, so were used to it before they knew any different. If I tried to start getting my 10 year old to go on sleepovers for the first time now, it would probably be a very different story though.

Those sleepovers were vital to my sanity as a single parent as it gave me a breather that I desperately needed to enable me to be at my best with them the rest of the time. They were only possible however, because the DC had a room of their own each. I am not so desperate for time to myself that i would have inflicted my mothers snoring on them and made them share a room with her. There's neglect and then there's just downright abuse