Category Archives: Playgroups and Play Dates
The Real Drama of Children’s Theatre
When I took my daughter to see a children’s production of The Princess and The Pea at a local theatre, I fully expected the drama on stage. But the theatrics in the audience were like a second show, which competed with the professional performance. And frankly, annoyed the crap out of me. I understand that [...]
Also posted in Bad Manners, Parenting Police, Public Parenting, Rude Behavior 1 Comment
Wanting our kids to be popular
We may be loath to admit it, but most of us really want our kids to be popular or at the very least not a social pariah. We stress if our kids aren’t invited on play dates, fret when they complain of feeling excluded and downright panic when they don’t get invited to certain [...]
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Hurting other people’s houses
It’s bad enough when you’re little one destroys furniture in your own house, but even worse when it happens in someone else’s house. We were enjoying a lovely thanksgiving celebration – great wine, food, conversation, until…. My four year old son decided to write his name in pen on our host’s leather couch. As you [...]
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Tattling on Another Person’s Child
Is it ever your place to tell another parent about her child’s less than perfect behavior? We all want our little angles to behave both in our presence and when we are not around, but do we really need to know every detail? Will the feedback be embraced or the messenger killed? This morning, my [...]
Also posted in Your Child Hurt My Child 1 Comment
Play Date Etiquette
Play dates can be a little like dating and just as full of surprises. The similarities between the guy who is late or blows you off completely resonate. A reader recently shared an even more intriguing play date dilemma – that of the parent who invites her child to your house. “Lately, I’ve had quite [...]
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Her Kid Hurt Yours and She’s Doing Nothing!
A reader emailed me about a fight between her daughter and a friend that blew up to include the moms as well. The girls got into a squabble when one lied to the other. The girl who was lied to grew so upset that she put her hands around the other girls neck and started [...]
Working with other moms to solve issues between kids
An economics professor friend mentioned that membership is more valuable if others are excluded. It makes sense if you look at the greek system, wait lists for exclusive country clubs, limited edition gadgets or popular cliques among children (and moms). We always seem to want what we can’t have. My daughter has been dallying with [...]
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Coveting your neighbor? Just remember “No One Escapes”
As we compete in the perfect parent Olympics, smugly congratulating ourselves on our child’s latest accomplishment or fretting over behavioral issues, it’s important to remember that much is outside of our control. A tragic story in Sunday’s New York Times drove this point home. A young family was posing for a picture in the [...]
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Making sure your kid wins
We went away for Memorial Day weekend and met another nice couple with a child the same age as my older daughter. They taught her some fun card games at the beach which both girls seemed to enjoy playing, until my daughter started to figure out how to win. At this point, both her new [...]
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Bad Choices, Bad Friend?