Why Ashley Tisdale Restricts Sleepovers for Her Daughters
Ashley Tisdale French has shared her reasons for not permitting her daughters to attend sleepovers.
The High School Musical actress, 40, who is the mother of two daughters, Jupiter, 5, and Emerson, 20 months, with her husband Christopher French, elaborated on her perspective in a blog post on By Ashley French dated Tuesday, May 26. You can read it here.
“I’m simply not a fan of sleepovers,” Tisdale French explained. “As a parent, it comes down to this: You might know someone well, yet not truly understand their environment. You can’t always foresee how families interact at home, how conflicts are managed, or who else may have access to the house… the list goes on.”
She continued, “A family can appear wonderful from the outside, and most are. However, the potential risks aren’t something I am willing to accept.”
While acknowledging that her stance may seem “dramatic” and that many kids “enjoy” sleepovers, Tisdale French remains firm in her belief that if danger arises, “statistically, it’s seldom from a stranger.”
She also recounted an unsettling sleepover experience from her childhood. “Once, I stayed at my best friend’s house while her older brother had friends visiting. They were likely around 10 years old,” she recalled in her blog. “I believed I had slept soundly, but the next day, they all found it amusing that I had sleepwalked. I felt really strange and exposed having no memory of that.”
Despite her strong opinion against allowing her children to stay overnight with others, Tisdale French is committed to ensuring her daughters have fun with friends and has devised a sleepover alternative. “Here’s the plan. Some friends and I have agreed that when our girls are older, we’ll organize group getaways. The moms can have a break while the kids enjoy a ‘sleepover’ in the same location,” she wrote. “Perhaps an Airbnb or adjacent hotel rooms. The kids can have their fun and a sense of independence while the parents relax nearby. That feels manageable and different.”
Tisdale French’s exploration of parenthood is set to extend to her career, as she announced in February that she will both star in and executive produce a CBS comedy focused on coparenting with an ex.
Her parenting insights gained public attention a month earlier when she criticized her mom group as “toxic” in an essay for The Cut. While the January article did not name any specific individuals, online speculation pointed towards celebrities like Hilary Duff, Mandy Moore, and Meghan Trainor, who have all shared early motherhood experiences alongside Tisdale French on social media.
A representative for Tisdale French denied any implications aimed at Duff, 38, Moore, 42, and Trainor, 32, at that time, but all three have since reacted to the essay.
