Tips on Organizing a Play Date for Your Child

Interaction between toddlers is an amazing and important step in their social development. It is often “cute” to watch children playing with each other; however, this interaction also teaches children important skills; such as, sharing and communication with others. A traditional place where children learn these skills is in child care facilities; however, as the amount of parents choosing to work from inside the home increases, the need for play dates is becoming extremely important.

Organizing a play date can be a fairly simple task if you already know parents of younger children. If you children currently attends daycare, you should ask other parents if their child would be interested in having a weekend play date. Often times, when children interact with each other for long periods of time at a young age, they tend to develop a bond and enjoy spending time together.

If you are a stay at home parent or do not know any other parents with children, ask your friends and families for possible names of parents with kids. Many parents have starting taking out classified ads in local papers looking for potential play dates for their children. If you are having an hard time approaching other parents about playing with your child, you need to realize that there are other people out there with the same problem. Placing an advertisement in a local paper is a great idea to target those parents who are also afraid to ask or do not know other parents. If you do go the classified route, it is recommended that you meet the family in a public place, such as a park, and never leave your child alone.

If a play date is going to occur at your home, have plenty of age appropriate toys and snacks on hand. When planning a play date, it is best to have only two children present at one time. Sometimes if there are three or more children, someone might end up being left out. During a play date, you should organize games and activities for the children to do. It is recommended that you do not watch television, most children can do that at home by themselves, play dates are to encourage positive interactions.

Before a play date occurs in your home, you should make sure your house is neatly picked up. This play date could lead to your child having a potential friend and you do not want discourage the parents by having an unsafe or untidy home. If your child has a favorite toy that he or she might not want to share or could easily be broken, it might be a good idea to temporarily put the toy up. If you child is at the age where they can understand directions, you should inform them to be polite to their guest, share, and sometimes let them decide which activities to play. If the child’s parents are planning on staying for the play date, which most parents choose to do, be sure to have plenty of snacks and refreshments for the adults.

After your child and their friend have developed a positive relationship, a change of scenery may be exciting. If the other parent allows it, the play dates could be rotated between each different house or occur on neutral ground. Many parks have fun playgrounds, wading pools, and picnic areas for children to play in. Zoos, libraries, and family restaurants are also great places for play dates to occur.

You should always try to develop a relationship with the other child’s parents. You need to show them at you are a responsible, clean, and trustworthy adult who will keep their child safe. Always remember, although play dates can become disasters if the children do not get along, play dates are supposed to be fun. Do not get overly stressed out when planning a play date for your child.