Love the playdate. I'm not sure how other moms feel about them, but to me just the word evokes both calm and excitement. Any combination of built in play for my kids (no matter how chaotic) + companionship for me has to be the perfect recipe. Throw in the fact that it almost guarantees everyone will be tired and take naps/go to bed on time and we have a stellar morning/afternoon. Rock on! Go playdates!
When my kids were young, playdates usually meant both kids got to go along for the ride. With kids so close in age, it's easy for everyone to generally play on the same level. Notice I didn't say they all played nicely, but they did play together.
Now things are still a bit the same. But different. This summer we have had a full line up of playdates, however, I fear the days of everyone playing together may be waning. The only way this works, right now, is to invite a girl that my older son already knows so he's comfortable playing with her and my daughter can do the girl thing. It does not work the other way. Invite a boy and they're in the back yard with sticks as swords.
Last week, I invited my daughter's friend over to play. My son constantly made valiant attempts to play knights with the princesses or try to be the shop owner of the Barbie hair salon. Major props for creativity. Eventually, after trying to occupy him with reading, crafts and computer, I finally called the neighbor next door and asked her to send her 5-year old son over to occupy mine. Why confront an issue when you can cover it up with a stellar playdate?!
Tomorrow I am faced with another playdate for my son. My daughter and I have plans to unwrap some very messy craft that her uncle sent for her birthday. Seemed like a good reason to break that open.
I would love to hear what people have to say on this. I would think the gender issue would work itself out and in a few years everyone will just leave everyone alone. But perhaps this is just one of the many side effects to Baby Bunching and I should keep finding other Bunched kids to invite over as a Bunch for mine.
I have two boys (22 months apart) and a daughter (34 months younger than the younger boy). My boys are older now, but my experience still holds true today. I need to invite a playdate over for both of them. Sometimes our boys played together and left the guest out, or other times, one of our boys was left out. When I was younger my mother only let me invite even numbers to birthday parties. It seems her wisdom holds true (so why did I have three kids, not four??)
Posted by: Sandra | Jul 23, 2010 at 11:13 AM
Definitely invest in some friends with other bunched families! My oldest two (all three are bunched, but they are the closest at 15 months apart) are both girls and so some of the issue is mitigated by being able to share friends. However, I have found that friends whose children are also bunched work out perfectly for playdates (and the moms are pretty great too ;)
Posted by: Amanda | Jul 25, 2010 at 03:03 PM