Michaela’s First Sleepover

Michaela was all set tonight to sleepover at her friend A’s house. She was excited leading up to it, but nervous. Still, when we left her to go to her friend’s, it seemed like everything was okay. Then the phone rang at about 9:30 and I knew all was not well. Turns out Michaela was sad, said she was “missing [us] too much.” Awwww.

I asked her if she wanted me to go pick her up, so she could come home and sleep here and she said yes, so I headed to our friends’. On the way, I thought I’d try to calm her down, get her to go to sleep, and maybe it would be okay. So that’s what I tried. Except our normal bedtime routine at home involves rocking her to sleep (yes, even at the age of 4.5) or snuggling with her in bed. That’s how I ended up laying on the trundle bed with Michaela, turning the 2 kids sleepover into a 3-person sleepover.

Michaela eventually fell asleep and I left, but it made me think about the things we do for our kids. And the things we do for our kids which may or may not help them in the long run. I don’t know that trekking out in the middle of the night to lay with her was a good thing, but I do think that helping her be proud that she made it there through the night, conquering her fear, waking up the next morning and having fun… is a good thing. I guess time will tell.