old school

I think that I might be destined for a lifetime of being known as the uncool mom. Today, as I was dropping the boys off at preschool I overheard two mom's from Jem's class talking about a sleepover. This wouldn't really have caught my attention except that the one mom has a girl and the other has a boy. The mom with the boy replied to the invite by saying that her husband was going to be home that night and that her son would want to spend time with him. And then she told me that she just wasn't really comfortable with the idea of a coed sleepover.
And as I was walking to my car I started wondering when coed sleepovers became a thing? I don't think that would have even been an option when I was growing up. And I still remember the reaction I got when I asked my parents if I could stay over at a friend's house after prom with a group of people, some of them male. They didn't say no but it was implied with such force that I felt guilty for even asking for several weeks. And I was seventeen, not four.
But now, apparently it is an acceptable thing to have little girls and boys sleepover at each other's houses. Maybe I'm old fashioned but that just doesn't seem like a great idea. Just thinking of the things that took place at sleepovers I went to when I was a girl makes me cringe. And there weren't any boys involved. I can't even imagine what it could have been like if that were the case.
And yes, they are still at the age where they are, for the most part, innocent and half of them don't even realize the difference yet between boys and girls. But I want it to stay that way. So I think that we will nix coed sleepovers and if that makes me the uncool mom then so be it. It's bound to happen anyway.

photo by mle_val  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mle_val/6531741241/