A play date at your home? It can be delicious, but I have also experienced that it costs a lot of energy. We have therefore drawn up some rules for playing with friends at our home or at someone else's. These rules ensure that everything is less chaotic and the children know where they stand. Handy! I would like to share them with you so that you can see if these rules are also useful for your play dates.
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When your child goes to primary school, in addition to this major milestone, a new era begins:making friends and the play dates that are agreed upon. For all new moms and dads, my experience has taught me that rules come in handy at a play date. Use it to your advantage!
It's super nice and cozy when your child has friends and they come over every day. But I also realize that everyone's energy is different and so is the space for playdates at your home. Do you have any tips for a successful play date? Leave a comment, that will certainly help me.
We had just moved from the city to a small village and I didn't know anyone there. Add to that the fact that our oldest is not very talkative about what happens at school and that I had no idea what the names of the children in his class were. Let alone which parents belonged and what their names were again. The first time he went to play with someone, the boyfriend's mother herself came up to me for the playdate and introduced herself. That's nice. You know the name and you can exchange phone numbers. I also asked mothers for coffee, so that we could get to know each other better and to be able to talk at an adult level.
Exchange phone numbers for the play appointment and possibly send a picture of how it is going. Good for the other parent, because I'm also an unknown face and I can work in education, but that doesn't mean anything of course. By sending a photo I showed what they were doing and I noticed that the collection was also a lot faster than without a photo.
I'm just a little embarrassed as I write this, but set boundaries is something I really had to learn. If a child came with me from school, I would let it stay until 6 pm and even eat with me. Result:food was ready too late, own child was tired from playing so started crying. He didn't want to play anymore and the boyfriend who came to play became rowdy. Now I keep myself for a play appointment up to 2 hours at. They come here from school at 3 p.m., so they can play until 5 p.m. and at 5:30 p.m. the food is on the table.
Our oldest is free from school on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Then I often indicate that he first eats a sandwich and that the game can be played from 1.30 pm to 4 pm. This way I keep room - after the play date - to do an errand with them or to have the house ready before my hubby comes home in the evening.
If you have a garden around the house, it is so nice when they play outside with a play date. With good weather you can fill an outdoor pool or some bottles with water fill with a soccer ball. We have also sometimes put all bicycles and other outdoor toys in a long row as a 'car wash'. All a sponge and a bowl of water and a lot of fun they had! I notice that it gives me an overview when they play outside or inside and I can do a job nearby or just sit for a while † Sidewalk chalk is also always a success. When the weather is nice, I put a plastic tap with ice cubes and lemonade outside with some cups so that they can top up themselves.
If it rains that it pours, we will of course play inside, although I try to send it so that they don't pull out all the stops, but finish the puzzle first , then paint for example and finally grab something that especially lets all the incentives land a bit 😉 .
Our oldest has a steady boyfriend. But if our son wants to meet up with someone else, the regular boyfriend will come along to the play date by himself. Very sweet of course, but it is also good if they play with others or if they play with someone else.
They learn a lot from it. My children are happily polite outside the home, but that is not always the case at home! If you always play at your home, it can also lead to minor irritations in yourself. For example, because you can't do an errand or give the bathroom a thorough overhaul. So ask the other parent if they can play at their home this time. An interim solution if the other parent doesn't like it or doesn't want to, is to go to a playground nearby go.
With several children and various sports what they do, having a play date is not always useful. That is why we use the agreement here:on 3 days you can play here, on 2 days there is sport or an appointment for brother/sister and you cannot play.
The play appointment cannot be made with someone else on those 2 days, because then I will leave the swimming lesson or after the horse riding have to pick up another one. They also learn to wait for each other and to encourage each other. Strangely enough, this rule even seems to convey some peace to them and friends know it by now too. On Saturday I am not very consistent, then it really depends on the weekly program / sports competitions whether there is room to play. And also to the energy of the children themselves. If they are too tired, playing with a friend is often not a good idea because it then becomes an afternoon full of arguing and 'genouuuuuuuu'.
Do you have any other rules that you set for a play date with you? Then I hope you want to respond to comments!
