A sleepover. A late night.

Tonight, my daughter (5) had a sleepover with a neighbor girl (7) at our house. It’s a really weird thing. The girls didn’t agree about anything. They fought over toys. They made each other cry. They refused to sleep. They made up. When the lights finally went out for bedtime, the neighbor girl had second thoughts and wanted to go home, but it was almost midnight and I couldn’t get ahold of her mother to get her home. Toward the end, I was sitting in the big chair in the living room holding someone else’s child and comforting them until they fell asleep in my arms, while my daughter obliviously played Minecraft. I thought, “good grief, what a disaster. These kids aren’t ready for this. Hell I’m not even ready for this.”But then I moved the neighbor girl to the nest-bed we’d built out of blankets on the floor and laid down with them. She stayed asleep. When I had to cough, my daughter shushed me, saying “Daddy, shhh! My friend is sleeping.I just watched her tilt her Minecraft character’s face to the sky, so the screen pointed at nothing but digital stars, rub her eyes, and then collapse into the nest with her friend.Now I’m all alone listening to that ambient Minecraft music (you know it, don’t you?) and looking at artificial stars in the dark living room.This wasn’t a disaster. They fought but they had such fun too. Watching my daughter navigate the choppy waters of making her first real friend is... just awe inspiring. I’m not usually a man of strong emotions, but I’m feeling this, whatever it is, pretty hard right now. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2ZpdnkI