Some of the best childhood memories are made at sleepovers – staying up until all hours giggling and eating lollies, playing truth or dare, or watching movie after movie.
But a child psychiatrist has revealed that he would never allow his children to attend sleepovers, because of the lifelong ‘trauma’ they can cause.
Dr Mitnaul, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, and father of six, shared five things he would never allow his children to do, and the video caused a stir:
“Number one: let my kids have their own smartphone. Not today, not in my house,” Dr Mitnaul explained.
“Number two: put a television in my child’s room. Number three: talk negatively about my spouse in front of my kids. Number four: do everything for my child so that they don’t develop habits like discipline and chores. And number five: I would never, ever, ever, ever do a sleepover.”
The video prompted lots of parents to question why he wouldn’t allow his children to attend sleepovers, so Dr Mitnaul replied with a detailed response.
He prefaced his explanation by identifying what he means by ‘sleepovers’ – that is when kids sleepover at their friends’ place – as opposed to with grandparents or aunts and their cousins.
In the video, which has been viewed more than two million times, he goes on to explain exactly why childhood sleepovers aren’t allowed in his house.
“Often the stories that come into us about trauma, about exposures, about inappropriate things in the lives of things are often at the corners of experiences of our kids. And by corners I mean those places where there’s let adult supervision, they’re a group of kids together maybe doing more impulsive things or things that they wouldn’t otherwise do under the careful watch and gaze of a loving adult.
“And so sleepovers often provide the right opportunity for kids to get into things that are way over their heads. Whether they intend to or not.
“And so if my intention is for my child to have wonderful and close relationships with their peers and for me to have a close relationship with my child I’m going to make sure that they do that in a situation and time that is most likely to be profitable for them and less likely to leave them scarred with trauma from which they might need to heal from for the rest of their lives.”
However, his response was also met with plenty of resistance, including from therapists, who commented that the benefits of sleepovers outweigh the risks.
But there were also lots of parents and experts who supported Dr Mitnaul’s stance.
“Sleepovers are either fun experiences or tragic ones. I won’t take that risk with my kids because if something bad happens, you can never undo it,” commented JGlo.
What are your thoughts? Do you allow your children to attend sleepovers? Let us know in the comments below.
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