‘I Slept on My Teen’s Bedroom Floor Last Night. It Wasn’t a Slumber Party. It Was Just All I Could Do.’

I slept on my teenage daughter’s bedroom floor last night.

It wasn’t a slumber party. It was just all I could do.

She’d gone to bed early, as she does on nights she has that option, which aren’t many. I’d gone to bed early, too, but was awakened around 10 by my mom radar, which is almost never faulty.

Sure enough, light and sobbing were coming from her room. I went in to find her sitting up in bed, an assigned-reading book from one of her classes open on her lap and tears streaming down her face.

She was crying because she was upset because she wasn’t sleeping. She wasn’t sleeping because she was so tired she knew she should be sleeping but she was stressed about needing to sleep, which was keeping her awake. Also, her typical teenage body clock–“let’s stay awake until midnight and get up at 10!”–was not doing her any favors.

There was nothing I could do. She’d taken some medicine for a cold, so I couldn’t give her anything else. She knew all the mental games and relaxation tricks. She’d already tried doing something else. So I offered the only thing I could: my presence. I made up a bed on her cushiony carpeted floor, told her I’d stay there in case she thought of anything else I could do, and we both went to sleep.


Elizabeth Spencer
Elizabeth Spencerhttp://guiltychocoholicmama.blogspot.com
Elizabeth Spencer is mom to two daughters (one teen and one young adult) who regularly dispense love, affection, and brutally honest fashion advice. She writes about faith, food, and family (with some occasional funny thrown in) at Guilty Chocoholic Mama  and avoids working on her 100-year-old farmhouse by spending time on Facebook and Twitter.

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