When Playdates Go Bad
A few weeks ago I had all three kids and the dog in my car plus a friend who was sitting in the third row. We all piled out of the car in the garage and ran into the house to avoid the rain. A few minutes later as I was hanging up the coats I hear some sniveling behind me. I turn around and there is the friend crying. And then it hit me – I had left him in the car. I then spent the next few minutes bribing him and trying to get him to forget my faux pas. He hasn’t wanted to come over since.
Every parent knows that sometimes a playdate goes well and the next time under the exact same circumstances it can go badly. Sometimes kids just aren’t in the mood and if they are like my daughter they will let you know. But what happens when a playdate goes badly because the parent messes it up?
Do you admit to the parents that you did something wrong? Or do you keep it quiet?
A friend of mine was feeding her kids and their friends dinner and one little girl kept going on and on about how delicious the hot dogs were. The mom was very proud that she took the extra time to grill the dogs for maximum flavour. The little girl wanted to see the package so she could tell her mom to buy the exact same ones. But when she saw the label she was shocked – her family is vegetarian. She had only had tofu dogs until that point.
We have (inadvertently) given kids chocolate chip cookies when they are not supposed to have any sugar, we introduced kids to Wii, and I’m pretty sure that my sons have taught a few preschoolers how to sing American Idiot. But I know that I am not alone, I am sure that my kids have suffered some mild indignities at their friends’ houses and what I don’t know won’t hurt me.
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