Play date Friday

The kids have been asking me to have a "play date" with their friends lately. Sadly, the days when kids could go outside and play with whatever kids were hanging out in the neighborhood are long gone. Sometime between our generation and our children's, the "play date" was invented. Play dates require phone calls between the mothers with specific play start and stop times at specific locations. Both parties must agree before the play date can begin and a list of allergies must be presented before a kid can enter the house.

At this point, I'm really in no position to fight the system, regardless of how ridiculous and complicated playing with friends has become. However, trying to schedule play dates for four children is no easy task. For one, if one kid gets invited to a play date, others will complain, "when do I get one?" Then there is the added complication of having twins in separate classrooms. The boys are developing their own friendships, which I think is good for them. But how to balance it so everyone is happy and feelings don't get hurt? Well, I'll let you know when I get it figured out.

Meanwhile, here was my SuperMom play date schedule for last Friday:

10:30-12:00- Friend A comes to our house
12:00-1:30- Christina goes to Friend A's house
12:30-2:30 Friend B comes to our house for Allie
3:30-4:30 Friend C comes to our house for the girls, Joe goes to Friend D's house and Aaron goes to Friend E's house.
5:30- pick up boys from the homes of friends D and E.

6:00- Drink wine and go to bed early.

As ridiculous as it was, I'm glad to have it all over with at once. Now they can't gripe at me for another play date for awhile. I should be able to get away with saying to them, "Hey, that's why I got you siblings to play with" for at least a month!