Playdate ettiquette (esp. re lateness)

[Anonymous]

One of my kids has food allergies and some serious food aversions. She only eats 4-5 things at a time. If you have a kid with food "issues"--you never, ever run out of something your kid will eat. You always have a stash of the Three Special Foods in your car, your fridge, your purse etc. You buy in bulk. Your other kids know "Larla's Snack" is off-limits.

I'm really dying to know the medical condition (is it food allergies? that's not really a medical condition) and what the food was--string cheese? something like a luna bar?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

NOVATransplant wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're going to be late (15 min) for this play date. It's at a park I've never been to. DD finished off her snacks without telling me and now we need to make a grocery run. I called the mom to warn her and she said we should just cancel. I said no, it would really disappoint the kids. Her reply was "Whatever."

Oh, you're one of THOSE Moms. Never mind that you're messing this other Mom's schedule up, you think it's OK to blame your DD for running out of snacks. Who is running your house? I think we all know. If your DD is "in charge" of doling out her own snacks and now this whole playdate hinges on the potential disappointment of the kids, well then, you are in for some very interesting teenage years.

Oh, look! Even the transplants are unhinged. You'll fit right in here, "novatransplant"

NP here - I am moving out of the area, but it is comments like this that will keep me coming back to read DCUM in my moments of boredom. It really never fails to amuse me. Thanks for the snort-laugh PP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I need to know... What is this special condition and what is the snack??? You're killing me!!

Yes, please come back and share the special condition and snack!

[Anonymous]

Whatever OP's alleged child's alleged condition is, I'm concluding it's not serious. I have a diabetic child with some allergies (so yes we have snacks calibrated by sugar, carbs and other considerations) and I would Never. Ever. Run. Out. I just wouldn't. And, in my experience with allergies and Type 1 is that any young child with a serious health issue simply doesn't have access to snacks. My guess (given her silence in response to the brilliant "mystery snack" post) is that she wanted validation for running late and threw in the snack issue to add a bit of clout. I think she's probably gone flaky on her friend one time too many. OP - this is an anonymous forum yet you won't say what the issue and what the snack was. That says to me that you've skulked off from the rather amusing Sherlock Holmesesque furore you've created.

[Anonymous]

BITCH WILL NEVER SAY WHAT THE BALANCED SNACK IS

[Anonymous]

I'm going to guess Tastykakes.

[Anonymous]

Wow, a lot of high maintenance moms on this thread. Take a chill pill people. Who gives a crap if someone is 15 minutes late to the playground, get a life! I'm sure every one of you who says this is bad form has been late at least once in their life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, a lot of high maintenance moms on this thread. Take a chill pill people. Who gives a crap if someone is 15 minutes late to the playground, get a life! I'm sure every one of you who says this is bad form has been late at least once in their life.

You for sure have been late at least once because this thread is weeks old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, a lot of high maintenance moms on this thread. Take a chill pill people. Who gives a crap if someone is 15 minutes late to the playground, get a life! I'm sure every one of you who says this is bad form has been late at least once in their life.

You for sure have been late at least once because this thread is weeks old.

Haha! Yes, yes indeed I have.

[Anonymous]

I know my reply is late... Still, I'm going to reply anyway.

1. Fifteen minutes isn't a big deal, IMO, especially when dealing with children who are sometimes unpredictable.

2. If I'm the one being late, I apologize profusely and offer an explanation. What might seam trivial (a trip to the grocery store) can be explained by it's importance to my child's health and my determination to make it quick and efficient (in and out, to minimize disruption to playdate).

3. Rudeness met with rudeness is never a good idea.

Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Hoped for a moment this thread was resurrected in order to finally divulge the secret snack and mysterious medical condition requiring secret snack . . .

[Anonymous]

Me too. And I have no idea why I care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My guess is that she rushed to make this happen for her child since you called only an hour before, and then you called back to say you'd be late to a last-minute play date you initiated. She probably felt like she was working with someone a little wacky. I mean, you live across town from one another, call at the moment you want to meet, THEN discover a problem with the plan you initiated ... It all sounds exhausting to me.

The other woman called to arrange the playdate, not OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You sound very inconsiderate. You are the one who basically flaked on the mom at the playground. If I was waiting for someone at the playground for 15 min and then she told me she had to run to the grocery store, I would be super annoyed and never do a play date with that person again.

What is this medical condition that you couldn't get your child this snack at the grocery store after the park play date?

The other mom was not yet at the park. Keep up people!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I keep a stash of shelf stable snacks in the car which prevents this from happening.

Same here. We have mini boxes of raises and granola bars stashed in either in my purse and car.

Agree with other poster...why does the play date get cancelled if you are running behind 15 min.? Aren't play dates way linger than thst?

One of the guesses was that OP was already running late and then called her friend to say she'd be 15 minutes later (to do some grocery shopping in a new neighborhood) on top of that. I wouldn't want to sit and wait at the park for someone to show up whenever they felt like it, basically, for a (first!) one-two hour playdate at the park.

Why would you think that? Say they were supposed to meet at the park at 11 am, and OP Knew it was a 30 minutes drive. So she gets ready to walk out the door, gets the kid dressed and shoes on.... so it's 10:30, and she goes to the kitchen to grab a couple high protein snack packs (or whatever it is her kid likes to eat) -- knowing that her kid does better with these fruit/nut snacks, whatever... and sees she's all out. It's 10:30. She's supposed to be there at 11:00. She can stop off at the grocery store and pick something up but realizes that means she's be a few minutes late, maybe 15 -- so she picks up her phone and calls her friend to give her warning, she'll be about 15 minutes late.

Why is this such a big deal? Even if it wasn't to pick up some snack for her kid. What if she was just running a bit late? What if it was 10:30 and her kid had to use the bathroom and that took a while? These things happen. Maybe she went out to start the car, and the battery was dead so she had to get a jump from a neighbor. Whoops -- a little late. Maybe she got caught in unexpected traffic and calls at 10:45 from the Beltway to say "Hey, there's a jam here... must be an accident... I'll bet here at 11:15 instead of 11:00 I hope!"

No big deal. Give a call, let the other parent know you are running a bit late. Why all the anger over it?

Yes, yes the voice of sanity, or one more scenario that happened to me all the time. Right as we are trying to walk out the door, dd has to poop! I have been late for that reason.