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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Due to covid and the fact that school doesn't give out a contact list, my kids have never had playdates. 3x this past month my kids have brought notes home from other moms asking for playdates. I've texted the moms saying we'd love a playdate, but nothing gets scheduled. If you ask my kids for a playdate, then shouldn't you plan something? How do I get playdates to start happening? Do I schedule a meetup at a playground? Invite the kid to my house? I really would love to have the kids over and I could plan a craft to do with them. But I have 3 kids (one is a baby) and I don't have much time to entertain the mom too, is that expected? What age do parents do drop off playdates? Should I get my other two kids a babysitter so that I can go to the playground/someone's house with just my one kid? (DH travels a lot) I would never bring my other kids to someone's house.

Explain it to me like I'm 5. [/quote]

I'm in a similar situation (3 kids, oldest is in k, youngest is a baby).  If I got a note like that'd i'd

1) Respond with something like "we'd love a playdate!  we're busy this weekend but wide open next weekend. I was thinking about taking the kids to xyz play space / playground...would you want to meet up for that?  Or I'm happy to do either house (or you could more specifically offer your house if that works for you)

2) If we land on my house, I tell them they're welcome to stay or go get some other things done (I've also often been told this by other parents). If they stay, it's never been a probably that I can't just sit and chat the whole time.  Often we'll send the bigger kids to the playroom and i'll stay in a quieter area with the little kids and other mom

3) If it ended up at their house, either my husband or I would go the first time.  after that i'd do drop off (even for my 3yo after a few more supervised playdates) if they were offering and i and my kids felt comfortable with them.  I'd definitely try to switch my 5yo to drop off quickly, mainly because I feel like drop off playdates lead to the kids actually playing together without adult leading / intervening more, where parent stay ones it leads to parents and kids all hanging out together. Which can be fun and we do that sometime too when we want to do family hangouts, but part of the benefit of a playdate is the kids learn how to navigate social interactions without adults guiding everything[/quote]

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