Raihan and Yahya’s Amazing House Party! Kiddos with Mummas are invited to tumble, jump, eat and play!! Gear up all your energy and spirit to have a blast.... So read the invite for a ‘play date’ that was held in the city recently.
Play dates, just so you know, are social occasions arranged by parents for children to, well, play together. They’re quite the good parenting phenomenon in the West and it seems to have caught up in a big way with new-age parents in the city too, especially now that summer vacation’s here.
Anzeem Feroze attended Raihan and Yahya’s party with her kids, six-year-old daughter, Wafaa Azad, and three-year-old son, Waqaar Azad. “My friend, Bushra, arranged the play date to cheer up her kids because they had been spending the holidays cooped up at home. Some 20 kids under 10 years of age were invited and we mothers kept them all engaged for a couple of hours with simple but fun party games such as musical chairs, tailing the donkey, bombing the city, and so on, before winding up the activities with high tea,” says Anzeem.
This was the first time that her kids attended a play date and she thinks it did them a world of good because they got to bond with kids their age, many of whom they were meeting for the first time. “For my kids it was a good lesson in social interaction. They learnt to let go of their inhibitions, especially when they saw the other kids taking small failures like losing out in musical chairs in their stride,” she adds.
Chic mom Meera Krishna regularly pencils in play dates for her daughters, Shivani Krishna Mohan and Gayatri Krishna Mohan. Eight-year-old Shivani and friends, Reya, Shambhavi and Diya, usually hang out in each other’s homes, studying, playing with dolls and games, zooming around on their scooters, playing dress-up ... Occasionally, the parents take them for outings to the movies, for lunch/dinner, for ice-cream and the like too. “Sometimes, we have baking sessions, especially when my sister, Ramya, is in town. If there are boys over for the play date, they like to play more physical games like tag and even kabaddi!” says Meera.
She and Shivani also bond over yoga two to three times a week with mom and daughter-duo Maithri Anand and Vedhika. “The kids really enjoy the sessions. I think that it’s a great way to get them to do some physical activity, especially when food and eating out is a major part of any activity for them. We let them do their session first and then they play while we get down to ours,” says Maithri.
As one, the mothers gush about the positives that play dates have brought about on their children. Says Meera: “I’ve noticed that if Shivani is at a friend’s place she strives to be on her best behaviour. If she’s having friends over she’s sometimes not all that happy about sharing her favourite toys but is always courteous about it and responsible. Just like we adults would run around trying to make guests feel happy, these kids are in their element when hosting friends. What usually happens is the child who’s hosting is the one who cracks first and then we all know its time to wind up the play date!”
Five and a half-year-old Vedhika is more or less the same, says Maithri. “She’s an only child and play dates are a way for her to learn values like respect, sharing, caring, giving, socialising, hospitality...,” she explains. IT professional Reshmi Nambiar, another fan of play dates, says that they have become one of the best ways to socialise with other kids. “They also learn to behave better and talk to people. As a mother, it’s the best thing ever when your kids are doing something, anything other than playing with gadgets,” says Reshmi, mother of Gaurav S. Nair, 13 and eight-year-old Gauri R. Nair. As such she regularly takes her kids and those of fellow Round Table members on outing for burgers, movies, museum visits and the like. “Play dates are a huge hit with my kids that my daughter’s even begun planning her own get-togethers with her classmates during summer vacation,” she says.
Arranging play dates is not child’s play, though. Says Meera: “I usually give the kids the run of place but then I have to keep a constant eye on them. It’s really not advisable to let kids under six play unsupervised. You never know what they will get themselves into. I once found the kids going crazy in the home gym! It’s a wonder they didn’t injure themselves. The other moms and I used to tag along when they were younger but nowadays we just drop them off, because we know they are at an age where they won’t wreck someone’s house!” Play on kids!
