The post about moving and trusting people made me think of this issue. When I was a kid, I thought my parents were so mean about sleepovers. I could only stay at my friends' houses if my parents knew their parents pretty well and if they spoke to that parent about where we'd be, what we'd be doing, etc. When they knew the parent really well, they were a bit more relaxed. One time, I wanted to stay with a girl who lived with just her dad, who my parents didn't really know. They ended up saying i could go if we slept at her grandma's house. I was kind of embarrassed that they made us do that. After that "slumber party," when I told my parents that this girl had told me how she masturbates with a stuffed animal (we were in 2nd grade), I was definitely not allowed to stay with her at any home again, though they said she could stay at our house. I'm sure that after that they suspected she had been abused and had no idea by whom.

As an adult, I can see that they were just being cautious and careful with us. We lived in a small town and my parents knew most people at least by reputation, but I wander how I'll handle this with my kids since we live in bigger places where we won't just know the parents of our kids' classmates. I don't think I would let them stay overnight unless it was with family or we knew the parents very well.

What will your policy be?