Since moving out of Sydney, and moving to a more rural location, I have found it is easier, and much more relaxed to arrange playdates.
For example, there is a little friend who is a neighbours’ child who appears regularly a couple of times a week at our front door, seeing if my daughter can come over to play, or otherwise she stays to play at our home.
I have been getting to know her parents at the School Bus stop each morning as we chat together as we wait for the children’s big Yellow School Bus to roar up to the bus stop and take them to school. I’ve also invited her Mum over for an afternoon coffee and afternoon tea, which was quite lovely.
They live a few houses away, and they play so well together.
Yesterday afternoon, we ran into the family at the shops, and I invited the little girl over to have and early “movie night” to watch a kids movie with my daughter, and to have some homemade popcorn.
When she arrived, she had her best sparkly sequin tights and a new trendy jacket, just as though she were going out on a Friday night. Well, it was Friday night after all.
They had a great time, and really enjoyed sharing the movie together and saying the dialogue and impressions of the characters afterwards.
It is so refreshing that little friends can just pop around, rather than when we lived in the city. In Sydney, playmates had to be scheduled a week at least in advance, and needed to be fitted in amongst lots of scheduled after school activities and parents work commitments. Children had to be chauffeured to and from the playmate.
Its much more relaxed and natural like this. It feels much more normal.
