April 2, 2025

When All the Kids Want a Sleepover at Our House

When All the Kids Want a Sleepover at Our House

In this hilarious and heartwarming episode of We Are the Hansons, we dive into what happens when your house becomes the neighborhood sleepover headquarters. From chaotic snack wars to pillow fights and bedtime negotiations, Jeremy and the gang share stories from the frontlines of big-family living. It’s messy, loud, unpredictable—and absolutely unforgettable. If you've ever been the "fun house" on the block, this one's for you.

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Welcome back to we are the hands Ends.

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Today.

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I am going to talk about something that happens more

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often than you'd think in our house when all the

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kids want to have a sleepover at the same time,

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and being the kind of family we are, we usually

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say yes, because really, what's a few more kids when

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you already have a house full.

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It always starts the same way. One kid asks if

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they can have a friend over, and before I can

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even get the word maybe out of my mouth, another

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kid times in with their own requests, then another and another,

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and before long our house is transforming into an overnight

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camp for kids, tweens and teens. Now I could say no,

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I could enforce some kind of cap on how many

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kids can sleep over. But here's the thing, guys, we

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love having our kids friends over, and we want our

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house to be that place where all the kids feel welcome, safe,

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and like part of our family.

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And that's honestly what happens.

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And let's be honest, it's kind of nice to know

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where my kids are and who they're spending their time with.

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Our house has always been known as the friend house.

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Every single one of our kids growing up, their friends

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have always came to our house to hang out, out,

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to spend the night, to just be here. It's always

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been that way. When we say yes, the real fun begins.

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Sleeping arrangements a whole boy. That is sometimes hard because

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we don't have a very big house, so we make

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it work. That's always interesting, you know, Mattresses getting drug out,

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sleeping bags cover every inch of our floor space, and

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sometimes kids just make do with a blanket and our couch.

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I've seen forts made out of couch cushions, bunk beds

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get doubled up, and even a few kids who insist

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that sleeping under the dining table is more fun. But

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it's not just about where they sleep, it's about feeding them.

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Let me tell you, feeding our own family is already

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a production, but adding in an extra handful or two

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of kids, huh, and suddenly we're running on full on

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cafeteria pizza is always a winner, and we've definitely been

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known to make an emergency snack run for more chips, popcorn,

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and juice boxes.

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We have done that. Actually last week we.

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Did that because we had a whole group of little

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girls spend the night. Then, of course comes the actual

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sleepover part, where the sleep is optional. I swear to

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God that whenever the girls have friends over, they don't sleep.

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For the little ones, they're usually some movie marathon going

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on or something safe, fun and guaranteed to keep them entertained.

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While they pass out halfway through.

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And what I like to do is I like to

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put on music and put the strobe light thing on

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and let them dance, because dancing wears them out. For

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the older kids, that's where things get a little wild.

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They stay up talking, playing video games, not usually video games.

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Sometimes most of the time it's the boys playing the

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video games. The girls stay up just doing makeup in

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their hair, and they pretty much do whatever, you know, weird.

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Challenges they saw online.

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That week, or we play being boozled, walked in on

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games of Hide and Seek at two in the morning,

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ridiculous dance offs in the kitchen that happens quite often,

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and some very intense debates about superheroes or whatever topic

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middle schoolers and teenagers are obsessed with at the moment.

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And of course there are always those kids who just

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cannot fall asleep, no matter how hard they try, so

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at some point I'll find a few of them raiding

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the kitchen again, whispering laughing way too loudly and pretending

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they were totally just getting water. That happens a lot.

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When morning finally rolls around at our house, it's a

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slow process of kids waking up at different times. Some

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are early risers, already ready to play again, while others

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are impossible.

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To wake up.

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I usually get breakfast ready for them, you know, whatever

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it may be that we have on hand, and fill

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up all these growing kids. Then comes the fun of

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getting everyone's stuff packed up. Socks are mysteriously missing, someone

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always leaves a phone charger, and good luck figuring out

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whose pillow it is.

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At the end of the day.

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Even when all the craziness, mess and exhaustion that come

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from hosting a sleepover, we keep doing it because we

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love our kids, and we love that our house is

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a place that kids want to be. We love that

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our children's friends see our family as an extension of

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their own. So what I mean by all this is

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almost every single weekend we have several kids spending the

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night at our house. Last weekend we played Bemoozled, which, ugh,

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I do not recommend that game. Our son got sick

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off of the old bandage bean and it wasn't fun.

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I mean it is for them because they like tasting

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the gross ones and laughing about it later. But I

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only can play a few rounds of that because I

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cannot do the tasting of it.

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Yuck. We play un we play Monopoly.

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We play Ghosts in the Graveyard is a big thing

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for our family when we have a bunch of kids over.

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That is one game that never gets old. We can

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play that game for hours, and that does tend to

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wear the kids out too, because they're running around fresh

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air outside and you know, nighttime it cools down, so

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they get that fresh air and the chill, and then

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they're ready to come in, get warm, cozy up under

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a blanket and fall asleep. We also play basketball that

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all the kids go down to the court and play ball,

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and they're usually down there for several hours enjoying basketball

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and just the little kids running around while the older

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kids play ball. Our kids friends think that our house

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is the cool house because when there is a sleepover,

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you know, we put on movies. We sit down after

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we're all done playing and running around and when it's

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time to chill out, we sit down and we watch movies,

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have popcorn, eat candy, you know, the whole feast, and.

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The kids love it.

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I usually try and make something for dinner, like pizza

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or hot dogs or hamburger or something like that, something quick,

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maybe sloppy Joe, just to be able to feed all

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the kids that are here. It is so fun for

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our kids to see that we let them do this

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with their friends. And eventually, when they have kids, I'm

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sure they're going to be the house where all the

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kids come to. Our house has been that way since

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our kids were little. As they grew up, all the

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older ones they're like, our house has always been full

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of kids. I feel that if I open my doors

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to the neighbor kids and let them come and stay here,

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one I know my kids are safe at home, and two,

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I know their friends are safe at our home and

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they're not out getting into trouble and doing stupid things

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that most kids do. And three, their parents can trust

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that we are going to protect their children like our

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own and not let nothing bad happen to their kids.

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I would never ever let anything happen to any child, period,

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and nor would my husband, nor would our older children.

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I think our house is pretty well safeguarded with adult

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children and parents. I think it is safe to say

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that no parent ever has to worry when their kid

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is at our house, and they know that that is

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just how we are as parents, and we love kids. Period,

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doesn't matter, age, doesn't matter anything. Kids are always welcome

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at our home. In fact, when the kids get out

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of school, all their friends, our house is where they

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come and they knock on the door to see if

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our kids are able to play. Our house is the

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first house that they come to, and I'm okay with that.

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I know that all the little neighbor kids are safe here,

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and most of our neighbors watch when they're outside playing.

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We watch to make sure that they're safe. So it's

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very nice to have good neighbors. So we will keep

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opening our door for sleepovers absolutely because memories made in

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these wild, laughter filled nights are worth every bit of

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the chaos.

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I can't tell you enough.

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How much fun we have and just the memories made

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just laughing with all the neighbor kids. Them neighbor kids

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are going to remember that for the rest of their life,

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and I'm sure when they grow up and have kids,

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they're going to follow in that suit. They're going to

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be like, you know, one time I was at my

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friend's house, and every weekend we were over there and

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we were always having fun and doing sleepovers, and it

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was so fun. We always try to make it fun.

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And I have always learned because Morgan, when she was little,

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she could never spend the night at anyone's else she

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always got homesick and I would have to go pick

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her up at one two in the morning. So I

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learned then that if you have a child that comes

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over that's never stayed the night anywhere, or just has

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a fear of being away from their parent, or separation anxiety,

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whatever it may be, I.

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Have learned that.

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Most of the time, when a parent or guardian or

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whoever is in charge of that home says it's bedtime,

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that is when the child wants to go home.

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So I learned that if you keep them busy in

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their mind busy.

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While they're at your house, needless to say, you won't

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have them wanting to go home as long as they're

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having fun and you're keeping their mind busy, because it's

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when they start thinking about their parents or guardian or

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maybe it's Grandma or whoever it may be that they

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live with.

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When you stop.

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The fun, that is when the child wants to go home,

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so we don't bring up bedtime. We tell them it's

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time to settle down, Let's watch a movie, eat some popcorn.

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And most of the time the kids.

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Fall asleep during the movie or get sleepy, and then

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we get them to bed and they go to sleep.

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But definitely is late nights on the weekends, sometimes three

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three point thirty in the morning, and that's okay, it's

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a weekend. It's bound to happen their kids. We were

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kids at one time, so we understand and I try

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to be a part of what's happening so that they

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know that they can always come here and if they

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need somebody to talk to, we are always open. We

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will never push any child away. I want to say

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thanks for hanging out with me today. If you've ever

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hosted a house full of kids for a sleepover, let

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me know how it went for you. And if you

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enjoyed these stories, don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel,

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We Are the Hansens, so you don't miss the next

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