‘Suddenly the night owl was in my bedroom’

Image: Pixabay

Have you prepared yourself so well for the sleepover, does one of the children turn out to be a true night owl or do they suffer from terribly homesick.

Jill (47), mother of Liam (10):

“Liam had a birthday in lockdown, so paintball couldn’t go on. As an alternative, I came up with a sleepover in our vacant B&B next to our house. There would be eight of them sleeping on air mattresses. The partygoers thought it was super exciting. Because they were all participating in a soccer tournament the next day, the stuff was already in the sleeping bags by eleven o’clock. The idea was to chat for a while and then go to sleep.

Boyfriend Joep thought otherwise, however. At midnight he entered the living room: he was not yet tired. I gave him a sip of water, tickled his back and then sent him back to the cottage.

Night owl

Two hours later, I had just fallen asleep, the night owl suddenly appeared in my bedroom: could I call his mother? He wanted to go home. When she didn’t answer, there was nothing for it but to tell him to go to sleep anyway. This time on our couch.

Long story short: Joep and I both didn’t sleep that night. He kept reporting to me hourly about his insomnia, which also left me heartbroken the next day. Oh, and only at nine o’clock his mother called: her phone was on silent. Was there something wrong?”

Also read – ‘Should I let my daughter (6) stay the night with homesickness?’ >

Homesickness

Debora (36), mother of Liv (11) and Evy (9):

“We have tried it eight times. With grandma and grandpa, with her bestie, with the closest neighbours. Bring cuddly toys, blankets and pillows from home. With video calling and even live kisses before bed. Nothing helps: Liv is terribly homesick. We are invariably called halfway through the evening or night if we would please pick her up.

We have now given up hope. Our oldest daughter really can’t leave home overnight. Quite a difference with the youngest, who prefers to be away from home every weekend. Pathetic, because Liv would love to spend the night too. Fortunately, the other way around is no problem: receiving overnight stays works fine.”

This article appears in Kek Mama 09-2022.

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