Do you have time for play dates?

emberlee3 · May 2013

DS talks constantly about wanting to have his buddies come over to play. I am really happy that he has good friends at school. Our schedules are so busy. I work a lot of weekends. We also live on the opposite side of town from school and most of his classmates. I don't know when would be a good time to invite a friend over. Do you do play dates with DC friends? If so, when?

EastCoastBride · May 2013

Yes and no. We live 5 houses away from DC and a few of the neighborhood kids go there too. So... just through general neighborhood socializing, we've done playdates.

I'll compare to school, though. DS has talked about wanting to have playdates w/ a couple kids. It hasn't really happened yet, though. Kind of to your point - we're busy. It's hard to find time.

As this school year is coming to an end, I'm not worrying about it now - but next year, and as DS gets older, I really want to try and make this happen. If HE asks for it, I want him to know that what he wants to do matters and is a priority. KWIM?

cecilyandgautam · May 2013

We socialize a lot on the weekends, but DH & I have similar work schedules. When he needs to work on a Saturday, I often meet up with other mom friends for a little playdate. It's not high on our priority list, just kind of happens naturally.

azuremama · May 2013

We have done a couple, but not many. Our daycare is downtown and we live in a northern suburb, when a lot of his friends live in other directions, so it's a haul. I'd try to find a weekend that works, but otherwise not worry about it too much. I always figure it's good if he wants to see his friends, but he's got lots of time with them at school!

Sonadora · May 2013

We try to do one sort of "playdate" a month or so or arrange to have friends of ours over for an afternoon bbq with their children.

We do them on the weekends. Last weekend we were supposed to meet another family at the zoo (their child got sick). The weekend before we had a b-day party for a 2 year old to attend.

I find Saturday afternoon usually works well. At this age it's obviously not a drop your kid off type of thing, so that's why I just plan a casual burgers and beer for friends that have kids around the same age. I usually aim for 4 pm so everyone can fit in naps as needed. With bedtimes, this means everyone usually leaves before 7, which is plenty of playtime.

Netty_3 · May 2013

I'm in a Meetup group with moms and babies that live int he saem area. We do a lot of playdates that way. They have times people get together during the week, and weekend and night events as well. So there's something for everyone.

MirandaHobbes · May 2013

I don't really. I should try harder though. We have lots of kids on our block but we all have nice backyards (fenced) and therefore we don't mingle very often. If I see a kid out on the street with his parents we try to make a point to come out and say hi. We keep saying we need to schedule a time when the kids can all play together in one of our yards, but we're all busy WM's with different nap schedules etc so we just haven't made it happen yet. I plan on throwing a few "parties", potluck grilling etc with some moms on our block and their kids this summer. It's easier if you can plan ahead for this stuff I think.

Kie310 · May 2013

Not really. Weekends are family time. I don't want to be running around for school things on weekends. We will go to school friends birthday parties, but that's about it.

jlaOK · May 2013

We don't and I really don't want to. DS gets to see his friends at daycare more than we get to see him on the weekends. I really feel that it is important for us to spend time as our small family or doing things with extended family on the weekends.

Tink112011 · May 2013

No, we have no time. Our weekends are for the 3 of us as a family, and then the grandparents want time too.

Right now DS is too young to really care about playmates, and we have a few neighbor kids that he can play outside casually with.

DH and I wish that we had adult friends with a kid that could be DS's friend. That would be perfect!

waTracy · May 2013

Nope. I'm a teacher so we cram them in over the summer with friends. But DD does gymnastics at the YMCA on Saturdays so she gets time with "friends" the. There's just no time.

KathrynMD · May 2013

We do sometimes. I'm a little worn out w/ DD by Sunday afternoons - so I find myself texting a friend if they want to meet up for some playground time. I might feel differently if I had 2, but being DD's playmate gets hard for me and DH to constantly ping off each other. DD likes to go to the playground and I can have a chat w/a friend. Win win for me!

I'm not killing myself to make a playdate happen, but its a nice break for me.

We are finally figuring out where the other little kids are in our neighborhood and we just walked over and played w/ some kids last week - so we may do that more and more.

cchill01 · May 2013

She plays all day with her friends from school. I don't really see the need to arrange play dates. A lot of our friends have kids, so when we socialize with them, the kids play. We also have kids on our street that she plays with outside.

But, I don't have extra time on the weekends to squeeze in random play dates with strangers. And I don't feel bad about it at all.

KL777 · May 2013

There are birthday parties during the school year, so I consider those play dates. During the summer I work part-time so I do play dates a lot during that season so that I can catch up with my mom friends.

emberlee3 · May 2013

Just to clarify, we do socialize with friends who have kids. It's specifically the daycare friends that I struggle with. I am not friends with their moms, so it's not a bonus to have time to chat. But I know DS would be thrilled. Maybe we will squeeze one in over the summer.

laurakaz13 · May 2013

Yes. We hang out with friends who have kids a lot on weekends. We consider them play dates for both the kids and adults!

groovygrl · May 2013

With kids from school- only one particular girl who is DD's "best friend" but that is mostly b/c they live very close to us, the girls kept asking to get together & we like their parents so it is more of a family get together thing, we've done it like 3 times & might get sitters & go out to dinner w/t he parents one of these weeks...

Otherwise, mostly just very local neighborhood meetup at the park or in someone's driveway or maybe have someone over to play inside in bad weather but that is more about us wanting to hang out w/ their parents haha.

We have some friends who have kids in the general age range that we see maybe every 6 weeks usually on a Sat or Sun evening and we alternate houses, the kids play & we cook dinner or get takeout. So again, for kids and parents.

Having twins leads me to not really make much of an effort w/ playdates b/c they're kind of always on a playdate...just iwth a lot more fighting & crying.

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