Playdate Overload

Blue Dancers

Winter vacation has been overscheduled, much to my chagrin. When we were homeschooling, we could spread things out much better, staggering quiet at-home days with social outings. Having to rely on the school calendar compresses too much into too small a time frame.

Another big change is the way playdates are handled. It used to be that a mom with four kids could get together with another mom with four kids. There was a whole mix of ages and everyone got along together. I still do this with an old homeschooling friend, but for the school friends it doesn’t work this way.

For the five days of winter vacation, I had to give each child a day on which he or she could schedule a playdate with one friend. That left one day for us to do a library program and one day to get together with the aforesaid homeschooling friend. (I fondly call that our “family playdate”.)

Today’s plans were canceled, leaving us with time to climb trees, read, write, and bake. Noone else is scheduled to come over, and I can relax about the cleanliness and orderliness of the house. We finally got to the doctor to see about a sinus problem one of the children was having.

Yesterday was an exciting day for my oldest one. Most of her school friends live several towns away, and it is a rare occasion when they can come over. So she got to have her two best friends over at once. The girls were so sweet. They went for a walk, had a valentine-themed luncheon, did makeovers, and played games.

But the self-imposed pressure to keep the house looking presentable until they arrived was awful. Together we polished furniture, cleaned bathrooms, cleaned and swept floors, and vacuumed. At noon I had a lovely lunch spread out on the table. They called and said they were going to be late.

That gave me two choices: I could wrap everything up and set it out again later, or I could sit watch over the table to make sure the dog didn’t jump up and eat it all. I chose the latter, busying myself in the kitchen until they arrived.

It turned out the mom dropping off and picking up did not have time to come in, so all my fears of judgment on my house were in vain. The girls had a lovely time and I enjoyed the knowledge that my daughter knows how to pick good friends.

“We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.”
Psalms 55:14