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?

Personally, you sound like a fabulous Aunty. My daughter would love you, she's 8 and has had a few late nights at weekends due to holidays, theatre trips, or weddings. She's always been fine the next day.

Parents are OK with this, you are OK with this, kids will either have a lot of fun or have an absolute meltdown. I'd say crack on.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this 😂If I'm on godchildren duty then we do this....I've even done it when nannying overnight which would horrify a bunch of you 😂

I also once gave the eldest a chocolate yoghurt for breakfast. I tried to give him eggs and soldiers but he swore blind his mother gave him chocolate for breakfast, so who was I to argue?

Might ring SS myself.

Trust me you’ll be fine. Some of the ppl in the comments are just weird. I allow my kids to stay up late on very odd occasions, they have never given me any bother the next day, they haven’t woken up cranky or overtired. I’m sure the two and 6 year old will find the sleepover fun and talk about it for weeks! The baby will naturally fall asleep as they are only 5 months old.

Why would it be made up? What part of this is outside the realms of possibility or your boring as fuck attitude

How is an aunt watching Toy Story with pizza and chocolate with her three nephews such a weird thing to you? Seems quite sad.

Come on…the babies need to go to bed at a reasonable time. Stop trying to be the fun auntie and be reasonable, and ask their parents not the internet.

Put the babies to bed and let the eldest stay up a bit maybe, but only if their parents agree.

Don’t be silly! I used to do this occasionally with my own kids. In practice, they fell asleep only a bit later than their normal bedtime, but were left with a delicious memory of a fun family time. It had little impact on their behaviour the following day, and absolutely no long term ill effects.

Oh good grief 🙄

Ha. I am the same. I babysat my little cousins and friends' kids my entire life and have exactly the same approach as you. I must say they are all either adults with their own children or older teenagers now and didn't seem to come to any harm from staying up late and having chocolate cake for breakfast. And none of them were taken into care due to my lack of adherence to their bedtime.

Good luck OP. At two years or five months my kids wouldn't have tired themselves out and fallen asleep on the sofa. Without a familiar bedtime routine they'd have gotten over-tired, whipped themselves into a frenzy and stayed up screaming. That's what happened first time I left my eldest overnight with his Dad at 13 months. DH had plenty of experience of caring for him including on his own but DS would not settle and literally did not sleep all night, eventually falling asleep after 6am when DH put him in his highchair to give him breakfast. Wasn't the last time it happened either.

I want him to fall asleep. I don’t want to take him to bed and him keep getting up knowing his brother and I are downstairs.

I always tell the eldest he can stay up as late as he likes. He loves it and is asleep by 10:30pm.

She already asked the parents. They are fine with this.

I have reported your posts. I am baffled as to how an auntie having a sleepover with three nephews is strange to you though. Maybe you live a very lonely life or had a very lonely childhood?

The parent who has farmed out her two very young children plus an older child for her sister to cope with. Why do they need a sleepover? Unless she has had some sort of an emergency, why does a 5 month old need to sleep anywhere other than his own cot in his own home? And same for the 2 year old tbh.

The kids of one of the families I nanny for have got very used to post sleepover breakfasts being milky bar yogurts. Who am I to break tradition tbh

Because she wants a night out with her partner and probably to relax. Why is that so utterly strange

This basically. When mine goes to her uncles I just accept it's gong to be late nights and snacks. It's not ideal in one sense but it's also great that get to develope a fun independent relationship with their family and they learn that different settings have different rules etc.

Plus it's the trade off for us getting a night out

Ah that has just brought massive flashbacks of my own childhood and having to try and sneak out of the top bunk without my sister (their mother) noticing.

I would get the younger two to bed and enjoy some fun time with the eldest. He will remember, the little two won’t. Have fun.

Yeah it’s always a ‘night out’ isn’t it.
What’s wrong with an afternoon date at the weekend until the kids are a bit older?

The parents are happy for me to look after them any way I see fit.

The youngest would be with me anyway until I go to bed. The two year old can fall asleep whenever he wants.

Because they want a night out. What is so strange about that?😂

I think it depends on the kids. Mine are early to bedders. I tried let the 7 year old have a late night on NYE and she made it to 9pm by which time she was laying on the sofa looking blurry eyed and asking me to take her up. She wouldn’t find being expected to sleep on the sofa all night fun at all. Maybe your nephews are more night owls.

If I were in your shoes I would get them all down at their normal times and then go to bed and read my kindle so I was in the room with the baby.