Asking other parents about rules in their homes
If you have young children, it might be hard to imagine that one day they will be going to someone’s house to play, and you might not know the parents all that well.
For example, I was fortunate that my older kids’ friends were also the children of my friends, so I knew the parents well. But, when they went to daycare, they made new friends and, though I saw them in the hallway every day, I really didn’t know the parents all that well, but my kids would occasionally be invited for playdates.
Safety is important, and sometimes it can be awkward to ask people you don’t know about the rules in their house. Newsday.com has some good tips about asking other parents about rules in their homes.
Four important areas to cover: Who’s minding the kids?, Food allergies? Gun control? Age-inappropriate entertainment?
OOHH! Good stuff.
For the play date invites, we don’t ask questions — my wife just goes along and stays if we don’t know the parents. Granted, we’ve been fortunate that one of our moms watched the kids until my wife retired (she had 20 yrs in with a retailer) with the birth of our 4th child last year. So, the new friends at day care thing didn’t come up.
With few exceptions, the friends of our kids are from school, so it’s kind of easy to start to get to know them.
With our oldest going on 10 soon and going to junior high in a couple or so years, I’m sure there’ll come a time when my wife won’t stay for that first play date — and we will ask those (and other) questions.
-Mike