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If there is one word I hate more than any in the modern parenting lexicon, it is “playdate.”
Whatever happened to “going to Bill’s house” or “going to play with Becky” or something like that? Everything is arranged and structured. Children cannot even have fun anymore unless it comports to the schedules of their parents, who must also be present for the “playdate.”
Just read the explanation of “playdate” from Wikipedia and tell me it doesn’t make you want to puke in your mouth:
Play date or playdate is an expression primarily used in the US for an arranged appointment for children to get together for a few hours to play. Play dates have become common because the work schedules for busy parents, along with media warnings about leaving children unattended, prevent the kind of play that children of other generations participated in. Play dates are also arranged by destinations that feature child-friendly programs like museums, parks or playgrounds. The intention of a play date is to give children time to interact freely in a less structured environment than other planned activities might provide. Play dates are different from organized activities or scheduled sports, because they are not usually structured. Play dates are becoming part of the vernacular of popular culture and form a part of children’s “down time”. Most parents prefer children to use these hours to form friendships by playing with other children either one-on-one or within small groups. When children are very young, most parents stay for the play date and use the time to form their own friendships and parental alliances.
Parental alliances? Down time? Not usually structured? Demonic.
I understand that parents are afraid of the freaks that lurk in the world. Believe me, I know they are there because they all end up with me in the afterlife. But, please, do not live your life in fear and do not instill a fear of freedom and random acts of playtime in your children.
The possibilities of childhood and the childish imagination are vast and amazing, but these possibilities are stifled and smothered by the imposition of brief windows of time for such activities, making them just another checkbox on the to-do list of a mundane life.