Reply to play dates if you struggle with social norms

Forum Index » General Parenting Discussion

Reply to "play dates if you struggle with social norms"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]Hi! I hope you can find a few good friends! But don’t worry if the first few you hang out with don’t click.

Could you do a drop off or pickup here and there to meet some moms face to face? Can you ask the preschool teachers to connect you somehow (via email?).

I would invite them over at a non meal time, like 9:30-11:30 on a weekend morning or 2-4pm. Have coffee, water, iced tea available, and cut fruit and goldfish crackers for the kids. Sit in a room with the kids or near the kids since they’re in preschool. Don’t hesitate to say house rules even to the other kid “Johnny we don’t stand on the couches here” “gentle please, if we break toys, they’ll be put away”. But don’t freak out about general clutter and messes.

When it’s time to talk, you can ask the mom about her hobbies, job or past job, favorite books or tv shows. A lot of people love to talk so being a good listener will endear them to you. Around the last 15 minutes, say to the kids “we have about 15 minutes left, in a few minutes we have to clean the playroom” and that gives everyone a good stopping point. You should start and if the kids aren’t cleaning, don’t stress, just keep going. If everyone is having a good time you can extend a little, but with young kids that can turn sour fast if they get tired so don’t push it too long, you can always make it happen again.

Good luck![/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics