Ask:
My DS wants to invite a friend over from his K class tommorrow. What is a respectable amount of time? 2 hours? They are 6 years old. If they can't make it tommorrow, should I automatically offer it another day? TIA!!!
Answer:
Depends on the time of day. Playdates, even at an early age rarely last longer than 2 or 3 hours. If you're inviting them for lunch, then extend the time by 1/2 to 1 hour. If you start at 1pm, be done by 3pm. If you start at 10am, be done by noon.
Yes, if they can't make it one day, ask if there is another day that would be more convenient.
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Thanks Cookie2!!!
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I think two hours is great if it's their first time...often I've found it's not really long enough, even at the age of 6. Just depends on the kids. We like afternoon playdates (after lunch) because it's just easier for us, but everyone is different. I would say that no, you don't automatically have to extend an invite for another day right away, you can just say "oh gosh, well it's too bad you can't make it tomorrow! Maybe a day next week? I'll give you a call/send an email".
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I like short and sweet playdates. That way the kids don't have a chance to get bored. Two or two and a half hours is a perfect amount of time imo.
There are a couple parents that i know that like to have marathon play dates. Once a mom gave me a shocked look when i told her she could come pick her kid up in 2.5 hours and she was even a half hour late. She and another dad would swap kids for five hours at a time....sorry i take care of kids all day long.....don't need an extra one for five hours unpaid.
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Like Jodie said, 2-2.5 hours is plenty at that age. My oldest has a friend whose parents like the LOOOOOOOONG playdates, but a couple hours is plenty.
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I agree with the 2 hours for the first play date. With some of my kids friends they hit a wall around that time. With others, they are so good and play so well, I wouldn't mind if they moved in!
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I agree that 2 hours is long enough, especially for the first play date. Ocassionally my kids will have friends over for a longer period of time but they are always kids that they are really good friends with and have been to our house before.
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I think that 2 hours is long enough especially if it is their first time to have a playdate together. My dd who is 5 1/2 has some really good friends that they play well together that we all extend their play times. Just depends.
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Whenever my dd gets invited over to play I always pick how long she is going to stay. I don't want her to over stay her welcome. I always ask how long she is good for there. Sometimes the other mom has stuff to do, other kids to pick up from school and such. Or I need to be somwhere, or they kids need a nap in a while. It usually ends up being about 2 hours. We do a weekly playgroup in the neighborhood too and it is 2 hours also.