When do sleepovers begin

[Anenome]

My sister tells me her DD (7) is sleeping a her friends house this Friday....I think that's very young!

I mean..not if they know the family really well...old friends kind of thing...but they don't...they've had a playdate or two and my siter has never even met the childs Dad!

she's met the Mother once when she came to collect her DD from my sisters house where she had spent the afernoon playing...and once when she went to the womans house to collect my niece...am I really out of touch or over protective?

I just can't imagine packing my 6 year old off in a year to sleep at a strangers home!

I thought 11 or 12 was more the age for this kind of stuff...well maybe 10...
[clingy parent emoticon]

ds had his first sleepover this year aged 8 and went away with the school for one night (yr 3)
dd, 11, started about 8 or 9 too

so not quite 7 but not 10 or 11 either

ds had his first sleepover this year aged 8 and went away with the school for one night (yr 3)
dd, 11, started about 8 or 9 too

so not quite 7 but not 10 or 11 either

I think going away with the school is different...theyre under supervision of teachers...and teachers who have been cleared by CRB checks....I feel that unless youknow a family well, then its a bit...well..gambly to send your kids into their home..I know that the majority of people are not weirdos but SOME are...how can you tell who is ok and who isn't when all you see of them is to sa hi at school gates etc?

DD had her first at the age of about 6.7, she went over and slept at a friends house. Her friend came back the week after although not a lot of sleeping went on. FWI, I tend to discourage her, she is a shit afterwards due to too little sleep. She is going away with the school next month for an overnighter, last year she went for three nights and was exhausted when she got back.
Anemone, don't you go with your instincts?

About this age iirc. You would normally get to speak to the parents beforehand, so have to use your judgment about them. After all, we trust our lives to our people judgment all the time: how would any of us have got married or made friends if we had had to rely on family introductions and CRB tests?

Yes, I know it feels different with your child- but at some point, we do have to start letting go and taking calculated risks. After all, there is no guarantee they will be safer at 10, or 12.

Imo it was worth trusting to my instincs when dd was 7, hoping that she will have learnt to trust to her instincts now she is a teen. After all, I can't have her boyfriends CRB checked, and there's not that many years between first sleepovers and first boyfriend.

Never, if you have any sense at all.

Do not wait until 10 or 11yrs. Last year there was a year 6 girl in a terrible state because it was the time of the residential visit and she kept saying to me 'but I haven't even done a sleepover'. In the end she went and she had a good time, but to my mind her mother put her through hell by being over protective and not letting her have a night away, so that she had the stark choice of 4 nights away or miss something that everyone in the class would be going on and talking about. She really wanted to go but she was scared of the unknown.
Start early if you are lucky enough to have family they can stay with.
7 yrs is plenty old enough, if they want to do it. You can make up your own mind about families-use your judgement.
I can say I like sleepovers-in that they don't sleep-however it is being over protective to not 'let go'. You can't CRB check the person, inspect the kitchen, ask for a meal plan etc -you have to trust.
All DCs are different-DS1 and 3 could do it early on but DS2 took much longer. Go with your DC -don't hold them back with your fears.

Sorry I meant can't say I like sleepovers! Mine did it from about 15 months with gran which helped.