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Mother Reveals She Doesn't Let Her Kids Go to "Unsafe" Sleepovers and Parents Are Furious

Here’s why this mother refuses to let her kids away overnight.

A mother has caused an online stir after sharing her "unpopular" parenting opinions—one of which is no sleepovers for her kids. Tara Huck from Virginia explained during a now-viral TikTok that she doesn't allow sleepovers due to safety concerns for her children, and the response was something she wasn't expecting. Captioning the video "This should be fun," Huck clearly knew not everyone would agree with her no-sleepover stance—but she wasn't prepared for the backlash. Here's what angry parents are saying about Huck's policy.

Huck Shares Her Parenting Philosophy

tc.huck/Instagram

Huck shared her parenting philosophy on TikTok—and it went viral. "Unpopular parenting opinions: I don't allow sleepovers. As long as school and chores are done, I don't limit screen time, [and] if they don't eat what I eat, they don't eat," Huck says. Her video has been viewed at least eight million times on social media—so she clearly struck a chord with parents, who seem to have very strong views on sleepovers. 

Huck explained she was not comfortable with her kids being at sleepovers due to potentially dangerous situations that could occur while the kids were vulnerable and sleeping in someone else's house. The reaction to her video from some viewers was aggressive and strangely angry. "People are coming for me, I mean making troll accounts left and right, sending me nasty messages, wishing death upon me, all because I don't allow sleepovers," she said in a follow-up video.

Playdates Are Fine—Sleepovers Are Not

tc.huck/Instagram

Huck explained she is more than happy for her children to have playdates with other kids—but she picks them up before it's bedtime. "You don't know what's going to happen, and it has nothing to do with me not trusting my kids," she says. "It has nothing to do with me not wanting my kids to have fun, it has nothing to do with anything besides the fact that you can not be positive that something won't happen to your children at somebody else's house."

Huck goes on to say there are too many unpredictable factors involved in sleepovers that could put children at risk. "Even if you trust those people they could have older siblings, parents, friends staying over, there are a million other factors. There's too many other factors that I'm not willing to risk my children's safety for them to have a sleepover."

Huck is sticking to her guns, elaborating further during an interview with the Today show. "I feel like kids are most vulnerable when they're sleeping. I'm just trying to eliminate one very small factor that could potentially harm them. If they could come out of their childhood without having had a very traumatic experience, whatever that experience could be, well, that's all I'm trying to do."

@t.c.huck This should be fun. #parenting #parents #TargetHalloween ♬ BUNNY IS QUEEN – BUNNY 🐰

Public Backlash Against Huck

tc.huck/Instagram

The backlash against Huck's video was evident in the comments. "No sleepovers? Yikes. Those are some of my favorite childhood memories!" one person said. "You're going to end up with the kids that turn out to be really bad behind your back, you're messing up girl," said another. 

However, some people heartily agreed with Huck's stance. "After working in Law Enforcement for 5.5 years now I do not allow sleepovers either," said one person. "I don't allow sleepovers either! As someone who had an unpleasant experience with a friend's dad I will not allow that to happen to my daughter," another person wrote. "And that's called good parenting," said a third. "My mom did the same thing and I will do the same thing."

Ferozan Mast
Ferozan Mast is a science, health and wellness writer with a passion for making science and research-backed information accessible to a general audience. Read more
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