When I think of the ideal place for sleeping it's something like, peaceful, dark, and quiet. The chaotic bright loud stage of a contra dance is pretty far from this, and yet generations of kids have curled up behind their parents and fallen asleep:

It's a good idea to make them a nest they can crawl into when they're feeling sleepy:

A keyboard case can work well, especially a fuzzy one:

It's worth thinking about what this will be before you leave the house so you can bring something comfortable.

Pictured: much more bedding than required for this purpose, because this is the car packed for vacation. I don't have a good picture of the car packed for playing dances.

If you forget (or believe them when they insist they'll set up their bed when they're ready for it) they might go to sleep less comfortably:

Or less comfortably:

Or much less comfortably:

Headphones and a story tape can help:

You want to make sure they've used the bathroom and, ideally, brushed their teeth and put on whatever clothes they want to sleep in, since if everything goes well they'll be asleep until the next morning. When I'm lucky, which is about 75% of the time:

• They sleep until the end of the dance
• I strike my gear and pack the car
• I carry them to the car
• We drive home or to our hosts'
• I carry them to their bed

all without them waking up.

I asked them what they thought:

Lily: It's not my favorite thing? But it's ok, especially if I have an audiobook to drown out the noise.

Anna: I like it.

I don't think I would have believed this worked if I hadn't seen it, but it's reasonably common so it must work for a lot of families.

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