To keep my three nephews up all night?

[Upfiner]

I am having my three nephews over for a sleepover. They’re six, just turned two and five months. The eldest has slept over a few times but not the younger two.

Instead of wrestling them into bed I am planning to let them stay up as late as they like. I’ve always done this with the eldest and he loves it and usually falls asleep at about 10:30pm. I’ll obvious have the baby in his crib but I’ve got a huge corner sofa so I’m going to bring the duvets down and we can just have a slumber party downstairs.

I told my friend who has two sons and she thinks that this will impact their whole week and their schooling and routine and probably exam results and future careers.

I’m not going mad am I? This is fine for one fun evening?

Tbh the parents will probably be in bed and asleep before the kids and aunty. It will just be a treat for them to know they aren't going to be wakened in the night. They're not worried about their DC having one late night with some unhealthy snacks so I don't think we need to be. They will be the ones having to cope with any overtired, grumpy children and think the trade-off is worth it.

Well, as long as the OP's sister has regular child free nights that's great for her. Who cares about routine for the DC. Sounds very like my NDNs children. Anything goes with them and I don't think they even get read to every night. Mine have all been read to nightly as children. Routine is what makes children feel secure.

It’s one night.

If the parents struggle getting dc back into a routine after their sleepover at aunties, they'll simply ask op to follow the usual bed time and routine next time. It's hardly rocket science.

Nah they'll obviously be traumatised. They'll never catch up on that sleep, ever. And their mum will forever be riddled with the guilt of leaving them. Dontcha know there's studies proving a night cuddling your brother and auntie will ruin your life, do some research.

I'm sure her sister would mention It

Good grief. When did mothers become so controlling and so rigid?

My BIL laughed at my devotion to the Penelope Leach bible when I had my kids back in the late 1980s, but I was nowhere near as routine-bound and dramatic as 50% of the responders on this thread!

I'm so glad that my daughter is so chilled about my DGD's sleepovers at mine and at their aunties. She's never once given us any instructions and just enjoys hearing from the littlies about the fun they've had.

Does that make you a superior person then??

I have no idea how you got misery from that. Just don't like people who post purely for validation

You sound a bit obsessed with your neighbour’s children.

No, I just like routine. So everyone knows where they stand. Nothing to do with being superior.

It's the parents that are a nuisance with keeping them up all night at weekends, especially the youngest who can't cope with it. Otherwise if they didn't draw attention to themselves, I wouldn't even care about their lives, no.

Some of these comments....no wonder there's so many kids who are "cranky" and can't cope with a change in routine! Teenagers needing several days to get over a late night???

OP your plans sound like fun! On the (very) rare occasions we've left ours my friend puts our mattress downstairs so they can all have a huge sleepover together.

During the week my kids have school, activities, reading, oldest is top of the class in everything, youngest excelling in sports.

Weekends and holidays anything goes! Road trips and backpacking across Europe, travelling to watch sunsets in beautiful places, night trains, fireworks at theme parks, surprise trips at a weekend, theatre trips. Life is for living, I have 2 adventurous kids who are absolutely thriving and don't take days (or hrs) to recover from anything fun or a late night.

Oh it’s quite funny though. The friend never even said what the Op said in the Op. And the parents of the children are totally happy and fine about it. So literally the Op started the Mumsnet thread just to get validation from anonymous mumsnetters. Poor sod

She's got a lot of interaction from you. What are you getting out of it?

A smile I suppose

But not everyone likes routine endlessly. I like spontaneity. Same bloody routine every day would drive me insane.

Whereas my youngest thrives on routine. We are all different.

At these ages - it’s the sort of thing that sounds wildly fun but I very much think the reality will be different.

If they were older, yes definitely.

a 2 year old barely knows his arse from his elbow so it will all seem a bit much and he will likely just be over stimulated, over tired and want his mum and dad and his home

How do you actually know that your child wouldn't thrive just as well without a strict routine.

He's up early each day and goes to sleep early. We have had him up slightly later on holidays and he asks to either go to bed or gets over tired and misbehaves which ruins a holiday for everyone else. Not worth it.

I’m sure this poster knows what suits her child.🙄

First time you have ever had all three stay over? In fact only the eldest has ever stayed over before. And you’re planning this

Surely for the first ever sleepover you take things gently and follow their normal routine and then… may be a couple of sleepovers down the line then you plan something like this

2 of the 3 are babies!

It’s always been fine with his brother so hopefully he’ll be the same.

Oof! Thats not great parenting is it? Still, who cares about routine for the DC as long as you have regular holidays? Sounds very much like your NDN. Do better.