Playdates on school days? First grade.

[MamaPrincess]

Hi, would like to hear from experienced parents how to handle request of my child for

playdate on school days? I can't quite decide wether to do it every day at the park

with a friend to let them run and release steam? or should I limit it to once

a week or weekends only?

It is first grade, they don't have any serious homework yet and the weather is great

not for much longer.. though so..

how do you handle playdate and when it is most reasonable to do it from your experience?

after school, before dinner? after dinner or other options?

[meemee]

i have found in my experience during weekdays its usually really hard to have a playdate, unless you live right next to each other. 

however if it IS done its always before dinner (meaning evening meal) - either an hour after school or right after school (depends on your family philosophy on hw - right after school or later). this is the case where the kids dont live in the neigborhood. if neighborhood then the time is loose. the kids are constantly over at each others house till they have to go to bed. they even do hw together. 

[mkksmom]

We allow play dates on school nights. I sometimes find it exhausting, but I know it's important for my dd, so I do allow it. At school, she is so careful, but with the girls on our street-- they are so close, that she will negotiate with them and learns to push for what she wants. She also learns to speak up and fight to be heard. My dd has dance twice per week, and I will allow play dates twice per week. There are a group of 4 total on our street-- 2 sisters, my dd, and another friend. It's tough because the other friends are allowed to go straight from the bus to another house, do homework there, and have dinner and come home around 6:30 or 7:00. I make my dd do her homework at home, and I would really prefer that she is home for dinner as well. I feel like an hour or 2 is enough, but I don't want her to feel left out wither, so I let her have dinner and we host dinner when it's at our house. My dh isn't typically home for dinner anyhow, so I just make sure she is home for dinner when he is here. I tried hosting the play dates on days when she has dance at 6:00 or 6:15, but it was too crazy and hard to get her there on time. The other kids were only available on those days for the most part, so by the end of last year, she was gone so much, it started getting to be too much. I haven't figured out what to do this year. She's only had 2 days of school so far, and none of the moms wanted play dates yesterday,

[chaimom]

My dd is a first grader and I have two older boys.  Playdates during the week don't really work for us.  We're all so busy, I just don't want to throw a playdate into the mix-- except with the next door neighbors, with whom the kids can play for 20 minutes or so  before dinner. 

My dd always has a Friday afternoon playdate, though.  And frequently a Saturday and Sunday playdate as well. 

[tropicana]

how casual? our school playground is open and available immediately after school and lots of the kids who get picked up have a casual "play date" before we leave school grounds. works for me! i'm actually really glad for it, gives me a bit of a chance to unwind too.

homework comes next, as soon as we get home, it's nutritious snack / homework time.

then it's activities including walking our dogs through the neighborhood, where we almost always pick up more "play dates" (informal) involving playing with the neighborhood kids and i get a little time to visit with my mom friends.

structured playdates that involve me driving somewhere special and/or dropping off/picking up? no. save those for days off of school, summer break, etc. MAYBE a friday afternoon, right after school.

do what works for you! 

[Parker'smommy]

We do occasional playdates during the school week. They are immediately afterschool and ends before dinner. They come home with us afterschool and I give them a snack, they play, and mom picks them up before dinner. Then, my kids still have time to do any homework after dinner, and before bed. I could never do them every day, and try to keep them to once a week. Sometimes kids come here, sometimes my kids go to a friend's house. It just depends.