It was really my dad's fault, because when I was a little girl and asked to spend the night at a friend's, he would say, "I didn't have my kids just so they could spend all their time at other people's houses."
Our first child was rather shy so the issue didn't come up, but our second child was more of a social butterfly. She was asked to spend the night at a little girl's house who lived a couple streets down the road. I knew all the little girls at the party because they all had sisters about the age of our first child; and more importantly, the grandpa of the little girl was our county sheriff. I figured it was safe, so I dropped Janae off at the party.
An hour or so later, I received a call from the little girl's mother.
"You need to pick up Janae. She wants to come home. She says you bought new shampoo today and she has to go home and wash her hair!"
She told me later she felt homesick, and the only thing she could think to give for a reason to go home was the need to try out new shampoo.
Well played, Janae, well played.
~~~
This post was written in response to Writer's Workshop prompt 1.) Write about a sleepover that did not go as planned. This is one of my favorite Janae stories, and I was secretly pleased she wanted to come home. I know, I have issues.
Did your kids ever call you to pick them up from a sleepover? Tell us all about it in the comments, or you could link up and share at Kat's blog, "Mama's losin' it."
that's a really cute story. We were never ones to let our kids sleep over either. Anyhow, I just found your blog and I followed so I'll be back!
ReplyDeleteOh this story you shared is so cute! Both of my girls had to be 7 years old before I would let them sleepover to a friends and then my husand and/or I had to know and trust the parents. BUT...when my oldest was in 2nd grade and about to turn 8, she was invited to spend the night with a school friend about 3 miles from our house. I had met the mom the previous year when both girls had the same teacher but didn't know her well. So I drove over there with Courtney and saw a GUN on her kitchen counter. when I inquired about that, she said it belonged to her live in boyfriend. I then saw him coming out of the bathroom smoking. SO..guess who didn't spend the night with her little friend? the mom got annoyed with me but I said we didn't believe in owning guns, especially around children (even though my dad worked for over 30 years with Remington Arms!!) and that we definitely didn't allow our children to spend the night with smokers. She was mad but I stuck to my boundaries. Needless to say, the next year they moved out of our area so my oldest acquired some new friends :)
ReplyDeleteCute, cute, cute! A pretty clever little girl to come up with that reason for needing to go home! :-)
ReplyDeleteClever excuse.
ReplyDeleteGreat way to save face! I was homesick when I would spend the night, LOL, but son was only too happy to go for sleepovers or have them :)
ReplyDeletebetty
That is too funny!! Mine haven't ever had a sleepover at anyone's house besides family.
ReplyDeleteLove this story! I wonder why I never thought of something creative like this to say when I was young. I remember being so homesick for home and the security of mom and dad, even being only 3 miles down the road at a cousin's house.
ReplyDeleteI love that! And what a sweet hostess Mom to allow her to save face and just go with the shampoo story.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute story! I remember my daughter spending the night only a couple times and it was with a friend from church. I always knew the parents and where the home was before I would consent to a sleep over. I was protective too!
ReplyDeleteI am dying, that is the funniest excuse ever that she came up with at such a young age. BRAVO! My kids aren't allowed to spend the night at other peoples houses either. I like your Dads line for that one!
ReplyDeleteI love this. That was a wonderful excuse. :) I really disliked the whole sleep over thing. I didn't let them until elementary but then it was like opening a whole can of worms. "How come they could sleep at so and so's but not so and so".
ReplyDelete