Good sides
There are plenty of good sides for our children to play with others.
- You can share “babysitters sessions” with the parents of your children’s friends. While your child is at their friend’s house, you can quietly go shopping or run your errands for the week.
- If many friends attend the same class, you can set a carpool.
- Your children’s friends eat plenty of vegetables without complaining? Hmmm… interesting! Maybe your kids will do the same soon!
- There are the children, of course, but the parents exist too! It is common that parents become friends too. When you mingle in the arena or in the park, you find affinities. Good for you!
Your experience and your tips…
“Once or twice a month, a friend comes home to spend the afternoon with my stepdaughter or my stepson. We always plan activities before the friends arrive: crafts, outdoor games, board games, a movie with popcorn, etc.”
Cindy
“I can’t wait for my daughter to be old enough to visit friends and for her friends to come over. I was raised like that, our friends were always welcome in our house and I could visit them just as much. We were four children at home and my parents always loved a full house. Even now that we are in our thirties and our forties, my parents love when we bring our friends in their house.”
Veronique
“Sometimes it’s alright! But not everyday, I don’t think so! Me, I hate to invite friends over or when my kids go… Sometimes I’m tired, I have four children including 10 months old twins, I don’t always fell like having a house full of kids. I don’t have a daycare, there’s a good reason for that! I love MY kids, but I’m not too keen on the other kids. I raise my children a certain way, it doesn’t mean that the other children are as well mannered.”
Virginie
“I like to know where my children are, therefore, there are friends in our house often, indoor or outdoors, depending on the temperature. I prefer to invite friends rather then driving my children to someone else’s house because my eldest son suffers from diabetes. Their friends know that in our house, our rules apply and in general, it is a lot of fun!”
Nancy
“I always accept to invite friends over but I don’t like sending them elsewhere (I find it hard to entrust them to someone else) but I am working on myself to change that. For discipline, in my house, it works my way. The friends must follow the same rules as my children.”
Marie-Michèle
“I like when my son’s friends come to our house, it allows me to take care of my things and of my daughter without boring my son. My children have a 6 years age gap so it is an ideal solution, my daughter can have her naps while my son is having fun.”
Suzanne
“I have three children now in their forties. When they were teenagers and even really young, they invited their friends and they were all welcome. Before they were going out, they were gathering around the table and I knew where every gang was going and what they were doing. I did the same thing with the grad-children: their friends were welcome. Those are great memories for my kids and their friends! I don’t regret anything and I would do it again!”
Mariette
“I have 4 children and my neighbour too but I don’t know why they are always in my backyard and never in theirs! It’s really cool for my children to have friends next door but after a while, I am sick of having 6 kids in the house. However, I like my second child to be in my house because she is allergic to nuts. Even though the other parents know it, they always offer her granola bars with almonds, grrr…”
Manon
