Sleepover It

There comes a time when every mom has to give into it—a sleepover party. A code name is given to the party—so those not invited would not feel bad. How polished! Rooms are cleaned and loud but faithless vows are made that the room will be kept clean. Menus are drawn up by the host child and tailored to fit some if not all friends. Passwords are made to be whispered into each friend’s ear to ensure entry to the room. While board games are pulled out, they will give room to the ones born from their imagination. The mood is at an all time high and parents are given compliments that they are the best. The best is to bask in these compliments till the time you clash over discussions of the mundane clean-your-room, do-your-homework, be-responsible…etc.

So all the young ones make their elegant entrances with their overnight cases and favorite pillows or pokemons or bunnies or dollies—you would think the teddy bears have fierce competition in their work space these days. The first few minutes are always a little icy—sometimes uncharitable comparison of whose house, room, bed, PJs, etc are better. Then they thaw a bit, get off their high horses and get down to the business of having fun. Many tears are shed over the board games—everybody wants to win you see and they don’t. Paintings are drawn to wipe out the tears and then a movie accompanies the dinner. Everyone has to sleep in the same bed, so you let them lay as they want to on the bed or around it with barricade of pillows. Then you listen to the stories…of how there was a girl with a ribbon around her neck and how a chap kept asking her why she wore it. But she wouldn’t tell. He married her nevertheless and kept asking her as the years passed by till finally she undid the ribbon and guess what happened? Her head fell off!

As a parent, your role in the sleepover is to be at your ward’s beck and call, supervise that all the games are safe enough, be a fair mediator in case of confrontation which anyway don’t last long so it’s better left unaddressed, make sure that they are well fed, and of course once in a while try and get a bit of rest.

For me, during a sleepover that had begun the day before, the floor looked enticing enough to sleep on so I did. Besides, I was just too tired to haul myself to the bedroom. I just lay down on the floor, while the girls played a game. All that I heard came in surreal snatches but nevertheless were eye-openers. I believe the game was “Vet and Pet”, where one was the vet, the other thankfully was not a pet but a zookeeper (a welcome change from a game of yesterday where she was the pet and the other a dog trainer), and the third was giving all the animals and a mermaid a nice wash. From the corner of a tired eye I saw the miniature plastic animals, being examined and washed with a lot of care. The vet had come to assess the animals and came out with the following diagnosis:
The Lion was having dental problems that need to be dealt with. The zookeeper retorted, “You go and stick your hand in its mouth then!”
The second was that the Giraffe was lonely and should be moved to live with the Rhinoceros for company. The zookeeper replied, “But…but the Rhinoceros has suddenly turned carnivorous…”
The third was that the stones were getting into the paws of some other ambi-vorous animal but the big shock came when the zoo keeper was given a bill that went into a few thousands of…dollars!

Being fully aware of the exchange rates (they have been learning about currency) the zookeeper protested and launched a verbal attack on the vet, who solidly held her ground. Meanwhile the washer of animals had washed off the stripes of the tiger and was in tears now because the mermaid’s base had broken off! Now that was a crisis that got me to my feet and I hugged them all and we all laughed together over chips, juice, the mermaid, the lost stripes, the lion’s dental problem, the rhino who had turned meat-eater and the fact that the aspiring vet found out that you have to study really hard to be one. Said she, “I think I shall just be the vet’s assistant”!