Your first night away from home 2026

Some children are used to sleeping away from home (with grandparents, uncles...), others have an open character and depend little on us. For them, the experience will be happy and go smoothly.

However, if it is the first time that our child sleeps away from home or he is somewhat shy and dependent, we will have to give him more instructions (also to his friend's parents) before rushing to put his pajamas and toothbrush in his backpack.

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Instructions for parents and children

The first thing of all is to explain to him that he is not obliged to go if he does not want to and that he can call us at any time if he prefers to return home. We will tell you in a very calm tone, so that you do not believe that sleeping away from home carries any danger.

Let's not go overboard with the usual advice either. Our son is going to a friend's house, not to a military camp, so there is no need to give him an instruction sheet with strict rules of behavior. Instead of giving him the "talk" before leaving the house or in the car, it is better to take advantage of the moment of packing the bag to talk about it naturally.

We will give the host's parents detailed information about our child:

It is about making the child feel safe and, as far as possible, at home. And, of course, let's not forget to exchange telephone numbers with the other parents: having each other located at all times will reassure both our child and the other family.

What to do if...

We can always refuse if the plans do not please us. For example, if our child is invited to go to the lake to ride a boat and the child is afraid of the water, we will explain the situation without hesitation. I'm sure the other family will understand. We can also look for an intermediate solution: "You better sign up for next weekend's plan."

That they practice another religion, that they are of another race or that they have customs and habits different from ours should not be a problem. In fact it can be very enriching. What we must assess is whether they seem like good parents to us or if, on the contrary, we believe that the house is somewhat conflictive (and in this case, it is almost better to say a million thanks and refuse the invitation).

These types of calls are very normal, either because the other parents have a question (could he eat spinach?), because some disorder arose (his head hurts, should we give him some medication?) or because they have encountered a situation that they do not know how to handle (there is no way for him to eat breakfast).

The usual thing is that we can give the necessary guidelines over the phone to resolve the conflict, although in extreme cases (he has been crying for a long time with a galloping attack of pampering), we will have to decide if we join the plans (why not go on that excursion all together?) or if we pick him up and leave the topic for later.

The first thing of all is to ask him for the specific reasons: what happened to you? Did you fight with your friend? If we can clarify the situation by phone, the better. If not, it is better to pick up our son and then we will find out what exactly happened.

It is more common than we imagine. Changes, no matter how small, are a source of anxiety for them, and these nerves can manifest themselves with a "regress" in sphincter control. You have to downplay it and explain to him that these things happen and that he should not feel bad about it. We can also ask the other mother's collaboration to tell her that nothing is happening and, if our child wants, to hide the incident from the other child.

Forcing him to go is just as bad as preventing him from doing so.