Play dates - Love em or hate em?

Personally I love them, most of the time.

On a good day the little ones play so nicely you could almost forget they were there, leaving you to sip coffee and swap gossip with another grown up in peace - Bliss.

More typically however coffee sips are punctuated with shouts of "I'm not your best friend"  "Mummy...."  "I had it first"  "Can I have a biscuit"  Then there is the mess and carnage to deal with after.  Recently Hubby and I had to re do every jigsaw puzzle that my 4 year old owns and out of 12 puzzles we managed to complete 3 without a detailed, forensic style, search of the bedrooms.  We are still missing pieces for 3 Puzzles!

Another thing I love is when the guest child misbehaves, it makes me realise  my child is "normal" and that in fact most 4 year olds are the same with the same single minded, tunnel vision and stubborn tendencies - I find it all very reassuring.

Once the paracetamol has kicked in, the headache has faded and the mess is all cleaned up I can honestly say that I really love playdates with everyone having had a good time and a break from the "norm"