It's truly amazing, I have spoken with so many parents that say they agree with me, but when it comes right down to it, they fall into the same seive that all of the other parents are in. When kids are spending countless nights and your house, doesn't that raise an eyebrow? After night two, don't you think it would be a good idea to call that kids parents? And if your kid is going to spend the night at someone's house, don't you think it's a good idea to call the parents to make sure that they're home? We send our kids to people homes that we've never met! What is going on over there? Just because the kid is 'okay' doesn't mean that their homelife is okay. Parents just don't get to know each other anymore! Why is that? Is everyone just too busy? You wouldn't send your kid to play in a viper pit, but you'd send them to a complete strangers house? I don't get it. I have had maybe one parent call me over the 17 years kids have been having sleepovers. Even when the kids were small (seven and eight years old), they would get dropped off at our house, the parent(s) wouldn't get out of the car and just drive away! I for one, always walked my kid to the door to speak with the parents. If I didn't know them I always wanted to go inside and check it out.
Are parent's just too cool now? Is this the image we want to give our kids? Parent's are too scared to let their kids play outside, but sleepovers are a completely different story! These kids grow up knowing that you are not checking on them and they know they can get away with anything. So, when little Susie or Johnnie starts coming home drunk or high, you 'cool' parents are partly to blame. Please, tell on the neighborhood kids, feel free to pull a kid aside and explain to them that running out in the middle of the street isn't safe and TELL ON THEM!!