Protective Mom Divides The Internet With Her Hardline Stance On No Sleepovers For Her Kids

Feb 09, 2023 by apost team

No matter how one chooses to parent their kids, there will always be someone else with a different opinion. In 2021, a topic that divided the internet on matters of parenting was all about the humble sleepover.

One mother from Virginia, Tara Huck, shared her "unpopular parenting opinions" on both Instagram and TikTok in October 2021, and somewhat surprisingly, it was her stance on not allowing sleepovers that got people talking. In the video, Huck shared three of her parenting rules:

"I don't allow sleepovers. As long as school and chores are done, I don't limit screen time. If they don't eat what I make, they don't eat."

As if she knew she'd get people talking, Huck captioned her post, "This should be fun." The video has amassed over 8 million views on both social media platforms combined. Huck told Today a little about what made her share her opinions in the first place:

"I had seen a couple videos of people talking about unpopular opinions they had about different things. ... It was a trend, and this is something that I feel very strongly about."

People had the most issue with her opinion on sleepovers, which prompted Huck to make a follow-up video. In it, she said, as reported by Daily Mail:

"People are coming for me, I mean making troll accounts left and right, sending me nasty messages, wishing death upon me, all because I don't allow sleepovers."

She clarified that she does allow her kids to visit their friend's houses, but she makes sure to pick them up before bedtime. 

She explained: "You don't know what's going to happen, and it has nothing to do with me not trusting my kids ... not wanting my kids to have fun."

Huck continued and said, "you can not be positive that something won't happen to your children at somebody else's house." Even if you trust the kid's parents, "they could have older siblings, parents, friends staying over, there are a million other factors," which means she is "not willing to risk (her) children's safety for them to have a sleepover," she explained.

The protective mom told Today:

"I feel like kids are most vulnerable when they're sleeping. I'm just trying to eliminate one very small factor that could potentially harm them."

People on social media felt that Huck's stance was extreme. One woman wrote:

"No sleepovers? Yikes. Those are some of my favorite childhood memories!"

Meanwhile, others agreed with her: 

"After working in law enforcement for 5.5 years now I do not allow sleepovers either."

Today called on Mahattan-based pediatric neuropsychologist, Dr. Sara Douglas, to give her professional opinion on the matter. Douglas said it's normal for parents to be cautious, but that it's better for them to focus on prevention and harm reduction rather than banning sleepovers completely.

She suggested parents should ask themselves a number of questions to determine whether their child feels comfortable going on a sleepover in the first place. Additionally, parents should be free to ask other parents questions "about contingency plans should a child want to go home early, food concerns, gun ownership and storage and who else will be in the home." She reiterated, "There aren't any wrong questions."

Douglas also explained there are developmental benefits for children to go on sleepovers, as it allows them to navigate social relationships independently without parental interference.

"Sleepovers provide an opportunity for kids to operate with a greater level of independence and in a way that is going to make them more proficient at independent operation," she said.

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What is your stance on sleepovers? Let us know your thoughts, and pass this on to your friends to see what they think too.