When it comes to parenting, everyone has their own ideas on how it should be done - but one thing all parents can agree on is wanting to keep their kids safe.
One mum has revealed how she has banned her children from going on sleepovers as part of her efforts to prevent them from ever finding themselves in dangerous situations.
Of course, they're her children so it's completely up to her how she chooses to keep them safe, but not every parent sees it that way, which is why she's had to teach her kids how to explain the situation to their friends and their parents.
Alissa, who posts from the TikTok handle @mindheartedmama, recently posted a video on the app, showing how she tells other parents that her kids won't be attending sleepovers at their homes.
"Thank you so much for having us over. We had so much fun, we're gonna head out now," Alissa began the example conversation, before mocking another parent asking: "Would your kids like to sleep over sometime?"
She responded: "Oh, thank you so much for the invitation but we actually have a family rule that we do not do sleepovers."
When she mimicked being asked whether she believed the other parents would hurt her kids, she responded: "Oh it's not personal at all, you know that we love you guys and you're great. We have the same rules for all families.
"We do not do sleepovers with any family. Just to protect the kids in case anything ever did happen at someone's house, we would not be able to live with ourselves.
"And we wanna protect our kiddos. So, again it's not personal, we just do not do sleepovers with other families. Bye!"
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After posting the video, several TikTok users commented to say they couldn't understand why Alissa didn't want her kids going to sleepovers, suggesting she was preventing them from making special memories with friends.
"This is legit crazy to me. Having sleepovers was absolutely one of the best memories I had growing up," one TikTok user commented, while another added: "I couldn’t do this knowing some of my own best memories were from sleepovers."
A third wrote: "I don’t get this. Sleepovers at my friends' houses were my favourite memories growing up!!!"
"I had a very toxic household and having [sleepovers] every weekend with friends my whole life saved me so much," a fourth added.
Meanwhile, others expressed concerns for the children missing out on activities with their friends, with one writing: "I can only imagine the emotional toll as they’re left out of more and more. Some of my best childhood memories were sleepovers with my friends!!"
"Ooof I watched this happen to a friend. She always felt left out and couldn't go to any sleepovers ever. She legit was talking about hating her childhood," another added.
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