Miss E made everyone breakfast. |
Now that I think about it, it's really not that surprising that I didn't think to include play dates. When I was a kid I lived on a farm that was 20 minutes from anywhere. There was only one other girl my age nearby, and even she lived too far away to simply go to each other's houses whenever we liked. I grew up playing with my sister and alone. It's no wonder playing with a friend isn't the first thing that comes to mind when I think of summer fun.
I want my kids to have good friends though, and stronger social skills than I have. I spent so much time alone, it was sometimes hard for me to know what to do in a group. Plus, we don't live 20 minutes from anywhere. Most of the girl's friends are less than 10 minutes away. As they get older I know how important their friends will be - friends are generally more influential than parents in the teen years. I want their bonds to be strong and I want to know their friends myself. Right now I can have a lot of influence over their friendships because I have the power to approve play dates. I need to exercise that by actually setting some up. I hereby vow to invite more friends over for my kids sake now, and in the future.
Friends are important and good to have over. I have at least 8 boys in my house all summer. I sometimes find myself wanting a break, but I'd much rather have them here listening to what they do and say to each other instead of having them off playing where I don't know where they are or what they are doing. I love summer!
ReplyDeleteDahl - I am totally the same way - mostly in theory this summer. :( Yeah, I'd rather have them under foot and know what they're up to than who knows where doing who knows what. I want to do better about making our house the place they and their friends are just used to hanging out.
ReplyDelete