Anonymous wrote:I have found that with my kid's peers this varies WILDLY. Some kids are in every single activity, it's nuts. We usually do just 1-2 at a time, and that seems to suit my kids just fine. We have lots of time for playdates, and host them or go to them frequently.

So if the kids you are trying to hang with is too busy, just look a little harder for this less scheduled kids. They are there too, I promise!

This.

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Anonymous wrote:I'm with you OP. So hard for kids to have spontaneous play dates on weekends bc kids as young as 5 are so over scheduled! Like hello please stop freaking out about your kids resume and start letting them have a childhood

5 yr olds aren’t over scheduled their parents just don’t want to deal with you.

+1. A 5 year old doesn’t need a spontaneous play date. They don’t need to be in an activity either. Weekends are for quiet relaxation. I turn things down because I just want to be with my own family.

Yes, we hang out with our family and adult friends. I am not making play date plans with a random classmate my child doesn’t even ask about and I’m neutral about parents.

My kid may ask to play with a certain child and I will try to squeeze in if my child really wants. Sometimes our schedules do not line up and that is ok too.

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Anonymous wrote:I'm with you OP. So hard for kids to have spontaneous play dates on weekends bc kids as young as 5 are so over scheduled! Like hello please stop freaking out about your kids resume and start letting them have a childhood

5 yr olds aren’t over scheduled their parents just don’t want to deal with you.

+1. A 5 year old doesn’t need a spontaneous play date. They don’t need to be in an activity either. Weekends are for quiet relaxation. I turn things down because I just want to be with my own family.

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Anonymous wrote:Why are Americans so obsessed with kids sports? I am just baffled. All these parents worried that if they don't start X sport at 5, then their kid won't have a chance of making their HS team. Really, who cares? What am I missing. Team sports are a giant pain in the ass. There are so many other activities kids could be doing that are easier to schedule. I get that it's great to be on a team and it has positive benefits etc but that applies to a rec team, or any other activity that has been sacrificed to do the team sport (an instrument, individual sport, more focus on academics, more sleep, less stress).

Competitive sports are hardly a uniquely American concept. World-wide, people are raising competitors. Look at the Russian (or sub Chinese, Japanese or Korean) figure skating programs, soccer academies, ski teams, ice hockey in Canada, etc. If you're not an athlete, then you don't get it, and you opt into whatever sports or other interests require the least amount of sacrifices.

I would be curious to know the percentage of the child population in America versus other countries that are doing highly competitive sports. Or let's be real a lot of these travel sports. Things are just a way to suck money out of parents who have overblown beliefs about their child's athletic abilities. I've heard all these funny stories about kids who did travel sports, but then weren't even good enough to make their high school team

In many Asian countries the kids are scheduled with cram schools and instrument lessons. I have friends from Singapore who talk about tutoring centers the size of shopping malls. The kids are studying far longer then the American kid playing travel sports.

Amd that's not any better. It's like ppl today forget to let kids have a childhood

The childhood mine want includes sports nd music. Surprise, some kids enjoy it.

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Anonymous wrote:I'm with you OP. So hard for kids to have spontaneous play dates on weekends bc kids as young as 5 are so over scheduled! Like hello please stop freaking out about your kids resume and start letting them have a childhood

5 yr olds aren’t over scheduled their parents just don’t want to deal with you.

Sadly this. I am hesitant to send my kids to homes I don’t know as most parents don’t supervise or care.

Anonymous wrote:It may not be about going pro, but it is about college scholarships. Parents don't want to have to pay got college.

For some maybe, we don’t expect any scholarships and kids know we can pay for state schools. It’s about them pursuing things they enjoy.

Anonymous wrote:I'm with you OP. So hard for kids to have spontaneous play dates on weekends bc kids as young as 5 are so over scheduled! Like hello please stop freaking out about your kids resume and start letting them have a childhood

I’m a SAHM of 3 kids. Weekends we hang out with family and family friends. We hang out with our adult friends with kids. During the 5 and under years, that was when we socialized the most with friends. I have been a working mom with young kids and a SAHM with young kids.

My okdest is now 14 and youngest is 7. My 7yo is plenty available for play dates. We are often busy with older siblings. If someone invited her to a play date, she could go but other parents themselves are busy as are we. Both my older kids had friends over yesterday. Both older kids are very very busy and still hang out more than my 7yo. It isn’t about being too busy. It is about parent coordination. My 7yo does activities but they are like one hour.

Anonymous wrote:I'm with you OP. So hard for kids to have spontaneous play dates on weekends bc kids as young as 5 are so over scheduled! Like hello please stop freaking out about your kids resume and start letting them have a childhood

Being in activities and not available to entertain your kids is not over scheduled. Your kids are under scheduled.

Anonymous wrote:I'm with you OP. So hard for kids to have spontaneous play dates on weekends bc kids as young as 5 are so over scheduled! Like hello please stop freaking out about your kids resume and start letting them have a childhood

5 yr olds aren’t over scheduled their parents just don’t want to deal with you.

I'm with you OP. So hard for kids to have spontaneous play dates on weekends bc kids as young as 5 are so over scheduled! Like hello please stop freaking out about your kids resume and start letting them have a childhood

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Anonymous wrote:I don't even get OPs beef. She said kids need to be bored but also her kid has no one to play with. So, kid is probably bored. Isn't this what OP wanted?

No, ops can probably can entertain themselves and handle boredom, but it's always better and more fun for kids to have other kids around.

Great things happen when bored teenagers get together.

Once again, not all teenagers do thos things. They ate capable of just being kids and have fun. I'm sorry for kids who aren't.

Are you sorry for the ones sitting at home bored who start chatting with strangers on Discord? https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1192713.page

Sitting around chatting with strangers on discord I'd not a great idea or something that I'd allow.

How about Roblox? The linked article describes how perpetrators have groomed kids as young as 8 years old whom they met in Roblox chatrooms. https://wapo.st/4cb7bi9

These online games make me nervous. So far my kids haven't asked and don't have an interest. Not sure how I'd handle if they did.

Now imagine your kid is in middle school enjoying free time at the playground with other kids whose phones have full access to discord or snap or Roblox. Now your permission is not needed because it’s not your phone.

MS is too old for playgrounds.

Playgrounds are ok for middle school if they have a basketball court, exercise equipment, fields. We aren’t talking about the slides.

Not all kids like basketball or fields. Dull. Why not let them do what they enjoy?

If this a park or playground with space, then can play any sport or game that they wish.

So, how do they swim?

Or do ballet, gymnastics, tennis, volleyball, or many other sports in PPs alternate reality where only basketball is allowed.

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Anonymous wrote:I don't even get OPs beef. She said kids need to be bored but also her kid has no one to play with. So, kid is probably bored. Isn't this what OP wanted?

No, ops can probably can entertain themselves and handle boredom, but it's always better and more fun for kids to have other kids around.

Great things happen when bored teenagers get together.

Once again, not all teenagers do thos things. They ate capable of just being kids and have fun. I'm sorry for kids who aren't.

Are you sorry for the ones sitting at home bored who start chatting with strangers on Discord? https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1192713.page

Sitting around chatting with strangers on discord I'd not a great idea or something that I'd allow.

How about Roblox? The linked article describes how perpetrators have groomed kids as young as 8 years old whom they met in Roblox chatrooms. https://wapo.st/4cb7bi9

These online games make me nervous. So far my kids haven't asked and don't have an interest. Not sure how I'd handle if they did.

Now imagine your kid is in middle school enjoying free time at the playground with other kids whose phones have full access to discord or snap or Roblox. Now your permission is not needed because it’s not your phone.

MS is too old for playgrounds.

Playgrounds are ok for middle school if they have a basketball court, exercise equipment, fields. We aren’t talking about the slides.

Not all kids like basketball or fields. Dull. Why not let them do what they enjoy?

If this a park or playground with space, then can play any sport or game that they wish.

Thanks for your permission

Permission? I wasn't giving permission for anything. Young teens can enjoy parks/playgrounds. That's what I was getting at.

Sure. Because everyone lives in an area with safe and accessible parks for teens to play in.

Anonymous wrote:People are just trying every which way to prove that organized sports are superior.

Why can’t they do both?

People are just trying every which way to prove that organized sports are superior.

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Anonymous wrote:I don't even get OPs beef. She said kids need to be bored but also her kid has no one to play with. So, kid is probably bored. Isn't this what OP wanted?

No, ops can probably can entertain themselves and handle boredom, but it's always better and more fun for kids to have other kids around.

Great things happen when bored teenagers get together.

Once again, not all teenagers do thos things. They ate capable of just being kids and have fun. I'm sorry for kids who aren't.

Are you sorry for the ones sitting at home bored who start chatting with strangers on Discord? https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1192713.page

Sitting around chatting with strangers on discord I'd not a great idea or something that I'd allow.

How about Roblox? The linked article describes how perpetrators have groomed kids as young as 8 years old whom they met in Roblox chatrooms. https://wapo.st/4cb7bi9

These online games make me nervous. So far my kids haven't asked and don't have an interest. Not sure how I'd handle if they did.

Now imagine your kid is in middle school enjoying free time at the playground with other kids whose phones have full access to discord or snap or Roblox. Now your permission is not needed because it’s not your phone.

MS is too old for playgrounds.

Playgrounds are ok for middle school if they have a basketball court, exercise equipment, fields. We aren’t talking about the slides.

Not all kids like basketball or fields. Dull. Why not let them do what they enjoy?

If this a park or playground with space, then can play any sport or game that they wish.

So, how do they swim?

Not to mention ice hockey. And cold weather states where kids can’t play in the park reliably from October through March or April.