Today I arranged a playdate for my oldest daughter with one of her beloved friends from preschool, who goes to a different kindergarten. I have realized lately that if my daughter is going to maintain friendships outside of school, it is incumbent upon me to make it happen. She doesn’t chat with her pals on the phone or Facebook yet, so it’s not exactly like she can do it herself.
Orchestrating playdates is kind of a pain in the tush – I struggle enough making and keeping my own friends – but my kid loves her peeps and I don’t want her to lose touch with them. So I have been on a mission to do right by her and play the role of Pee Wee Social Chair.
I offered to host this playdate for three hours, including lunch. These girls play well together and are great at keeping busy, plus my husband and daughter had two science-y projects they wanted to do, so I figured it would be a snap. Time would fly. No problem-o.
Sometimes I am so wrong.
Things started off OK, but the wild card I failed to anticipate was that our neighbor, and her sister, both came over to visit at one point. So for at least an hour there were 5 little girls, who all seemingly drank a Red Bull for breakfast, in need of entertainment and/or management in order to avoid infighting and total destruction.
My husband and I spent three hours running around, playing board games, supervising horse play, tending to injuries from horse play, and pulling out every craft supply we own, including paint – NO NOT THE PAINT.
We also flushed the toilet several times because apparently there is a rule in the Universal Playdate Playbook that says you must never flush your own waste – even if you go #2 – when you are at a friend’s house. Seriously is this a common thing or does my child just befriend wild animals? I can’t believe how many times I’ve had to flush for her playdate pals. No thank you. (in all fairness I’m sure she reciprocates at their house, so we’re even)
My daughter had a fabulous time, but my husband and I were counting the minutes until it was over. I am exhausted. I’m also starting to think maybe friends are overrated.
Banana Wheels 
Do NOT answer the door during a playdate.
No. Popovers are FORBIDDEN during a planned playdate. Because of all the reasons.
Lesson learned the hard way. Never again.
So let me get this straight. Your kid flushes the potty on her own, like all the time? (Also, can you tell I’m catching up on your blog?)
No way. Not always. But I think she does fairly well with the flushing because we have a push button flusher on our toilet. It’s the kind that you push one button for #1 (uses less water), and a different one for #2. It was probably invented by a kindergartener because I swear it is perfectly suited to a 5 yr old brain – she loves to explain it to other people.
Wow. Friends might be overrated. I am writing all of this down because it’s like peeking into my future. I also need to teach my daughter to flush better. Luckily our neighbors are all in their 60’s (wait, that’s probably more like unfortunate, right?) so at least we won’t have little kids just popping in. Now I am a little sad we won’t have pop-ins even though I also feel a little relieved too.
Parenting is hard.
At least your 60 yr old neighbors will flush after themselves. Or at least you HOPE they do.
p.s. you win the blog commenter of the day award. Thanks for all the reading!