Can so&so come over?

I wanted to link up to Works for Me Wednesday today for the first time. I wrote my post about a laundry tip and headed over to We Are That Family to try to figure out how to participate. Then I saw that Kristen's post is titled "Parenting Outside the House" and immediately my tip came to mind. I am by no means a parenting expert and will not claim to be. (I believed I was much more of an expert before I had children. It's funny how once I had those babies I was put in my place.) This practice did actually start before I had children. I am the oldest of four. The two youngest are thirteen and fifteen years younger than me. While I wasn't a parent to them, I was more than just a big sister. It used to drive me crazy when my brother and sister would ask my mom if a friend could come over while the friend was standing there. It puts everyone in an awkward position. As a parent, it still drives me crazy. In my house, the rule is "If you ask in front of your friend, the answer is no." We still have some work to do, though. While my daughter (who is 6) won't ask in front of her friend, she will ask me to leave the room so she can ask me. So it's not perfect, but it's a good start.