Can't find children

[Nimm2]

Where I live most toddlers start 'school' (nursery school, kindergarden)at age 2, 3 or earlier (including school uniform, the lot). Elementary students don't come home before 4 or 5 pm, nurseries usually go until 3 pm or so.

My son is almost 2 now, the last thing I want to do is send him to a nursery.

Recently we spent 3 months in my hometown, where elementary school finishes at 1 pm. My son enjoyed himself so very much, playing with a group of up tp 7 children in our street aged 4, 5, 6, so mainly kids who are a bit older, because they were talking to him, doing stuff he could imitate, taking him places - he had so much fun, he forgot I exist.

I would like to make this possible for him where we live, but I am lost, I can't find children who are not in school all day long. In the evenings they are home tired, just watching TV, not interested in running around with a baby.
It's so sad,

I keep considering nursery schools just because he enjoyed himself so much around the children, he started speaking a few words and was so active.
Then again the nursery schools also separate the children by age group so he could not play with the older kids much anyway.

Out of desperation I took him to play in the playground of a local school yesterday, he loved watching older boys with paper airplanes.

I am trying to find other people interested in unschooling locally, but so far no luck. It's so frustrating.

Sure you might say it's not necessary for a toddler to be around other children, but I could see how much he liked it. He doesn't care much about playing with other toddlers, but older children for sure.

Has anyone been in this situation?

[SundayCrepes]

My 2 year old loves following around her 4.5 year old brother. That's just how kids are. Even though we live in a largish city, I've still had trouble finding friends for my son. Although he has several friends, the best solution has been me babysitting a 4 year old. The two of them play together all the time. I haven't looked for playmates for my 2 year old yet because she's so young.

The best place for me to find friends for my son was storytime at the library. We've also made friends from a playgroup I found in our tribal area on MDC. We haven't gone to the homeschooling park days very often so haven't found friends there. Finding friends does take a lot of work. And it's so rewarding when it works out.

[JuniperBCN]

We're in Spain and it's the same.... the playgrounds do fill up for about an hour or so just when school lets out, but it tends to be sort of overwhelming because it's ALL the kids at once after having done their school shift. The library's a good suggestion, but library rules apply there. There seem to be a few playgroups organised by ex-pat mums here. This seems to be the group that follows a different schedule for their kids more based on their home culture and reluctance to put kids in a temporary childcare situation. Perhaps you could find something like that or start one of your own? Here they tend to post on websites geared to expats, English language bookstore message boards and in the city's English language magazine.

Also just lurking in parks can sometimes be helpful.

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by JuniperBCN

Also just lurking in parks can sometimes be helpful.

Yes. Whenever my son starts playing with another kid at the park or children's museum or wherever, I approach the parent and ask if they want to get together again. Most never follow through, but my son does have a couple friends he met that way.

[Nimm2]

Thank you for the helpful suggestions! I started to host a playdate meeting online in a nice location, but so far I waited every time and nobody turned up. I attended another playdate meeting that was posted online today, nobody turned up.

I went to a playground and there was only one other child, a 2 year old who must have been witnessing too much violence in his life, he only ran up to my 2 yo and tried to hit him, the mother after him trying to hold him back, not always successful, my boy crying bitterly and scared, prefered to leave the area.

Then I keep going to a play area of a local shopping center, there are some children sometimes, but they are always coughing and sneezing. From talking to some guardians they were rejected by nursery that day, they always seem to check the children temperature with an ear thermometer every morning.

Then I went to a very artificial, commercial, age segregated, loud, indoor activity center called gymboree. My son also had to have his temp checked with an ear thermometer, then he had to get hand desinfectant gel spread on his hands, then he was allowed in. The "teachers" were wearing wireless microphones in a small room with loud music, to make their voices louder than the music and every child had to do the same thing, pretty terrible.

I keep going to the beach with my son, but often we are a bit bored with just some adults around. He likes playing in the sand, chasing crabs and searching mussles, watching fishing boats. He also likes watching construction sites.

Still no luck with other children. The babysitting idea is great, but they are all in 'school'.

I am considering to move just so my son can enjoy himself with children who are free to play.