Playdates

Three years here and I am still learning the customs. I have never been the kind of person that likes planing things too long in advance. Any plan would just be another item that occupies my short term memory (or long, depends on how long in advance) and seems to yet accumulate to an overall stress in our hectic daily routine which overloads my (full by default) memory cells. Setting up a playdate two days in advance is not too bad, one day in advance would even be better, but my favorite approach would be to schedule a playdate on the same day, when all parents meet up to pick up their kids from school. This allows you to avoid the build up of too much tension and excitement (the last thing you want is a child not being able to fall asleep at night waiting for the next day playdate) that could of course lead to an even bigger disappointment. This also allows to avoid last minute fights between the kids (same day playdates are usually initiated by the kids themselves anyway) and teach your kids the principle of being spontaneous, which I find to be surprisingly handy in many scenarios. We once were scheduled for a playdate 2 weeks in advance. I had to write it down in my calendar and set up a reminder on my cell phone so I don't forget. My daughter and the other friend were very excited for about a week, planning their playdate and talking about it. However, by the time that day had finally come they had a fight and my daughter (then 6 years old) didn't even want to hear that girls name.. I had to call and cancel the playdate and I think the parents were a little angry about it... Needles to say it was the first and last time we were ever invited to their house.