As most of you have caught on, my son started kindergarten last week. While we have had play-dates, they have always been accompanied by the mom and the other siblings. Last week was my first experience of having my son walk away from me with another mom and her child to go play. He could have cared less by the way. As he raced down the street with his new buddy, I felt more choked up than on the first day of school.
As with most things in life, I needed to reciprocate. The mom and I planned to have her little boy come over to our house today. The play-date was a success, or so I thought. The kids ate lunch, played basketball, Wii, I read them a school library book, etc. Of course my four and two-year-old were completely involved in the play. They loved having another 'big boy' to play with, chase and copy.
Our little guest did not like dogs, so I locked up two of the three pups. One of the 'jailed' dogs barked the entire time. She desperately wanted to play with her boy and his friend. Our parrot screamed, laughed, barked and chatted. The girls screeched, giggled, slammed doors and talked loud. Just another average day at our house. I did not think much about it. I just talked louder than my kids/pets if I had something to say and I used my best 'stage' voice when I read the book to them.
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When their play-date was coming to a close and it was almost time for my son's guest to go home, I was feeling like the plans were a success. No fights, tears, rough play, etc. I began reading a book about 20 minutes before the scheduled pick-up to make sure they were not too wild when the mom came to get her son. After about four pages (and twenty-four interruptions) the little boy said, "Excuse me, I am never coming to this house again. I don't like this house! You are all too noisy!"
And so, I ask again and again, who wants a play-date at our house?
