Now that school is back again, and the lockdowns are eased, so many things of our pre-pandemic lives are once more back on the agenda.
Such as playdates.
The thing is – once you have children of school-going age, play dates will become a big part of your life, like it or not.
So you might as well embrace it. Open up your heart – and home.
The thing about playdates is, they are sort of like any other date. In the way that when they go well (yay!) you feel euphoric and smug and just delighted with how things are going. And when they are less than great, well, then you are mentally calculating how you can get out of this and how much longer you have to stick it out.
However, mamas, I recently came across a great tip on Purewow – straight from the mouth of a nursery school teacher and the key to a successful playdate is? Keeping them short and sweet.
In fact – what we should be doing, is capping the playdate at 45 minutes. Max. “End on a high” were her exact words.
Yup, it’s true – and when you think about it, this actually makes all sorts of sense.
Because as all parents know, when it comes to kids, there is a thin line between ‘having a great time’ and ‘literally hell is breaking loose.’ And the thing is, leaving on high, when everyone is still having fun, well, that’ll just make it all the more fun to suggest another playdate sometime in the future, no?
“Keeping playdates short will help avoid meltdowns, squabbles and other misbehaviours,” say the parenting experts at Understood.org.
“Giving fair warning by announcing that the playdate is nearly over and initiating cleanup time increases the likelihood that the playdate will end on a high note.”
What do YOU think? Would you try this trick? Or does 45 minutes sound a little too short? Let us know in the comments.
