Friends, We Need To Clear Up This Common Playdate Misunderstanding

Hey Jenny,

Thank you so much for coming to my house for the playdate today. My son adored playing with your daughter, and I know he’s looking forward to the next time they get to hang out outside of school. I’m all about honesty in a relationship, so I wanted to write this email to address something that’s been on my mind since you left my house.

When I invited you over for a playdate, I didn’t think we’d play with our kids. Usually, when I ask a mom and their child over to my house, what I’m insinuating is that the kids hang out while we sit in a different room and bitch about life. It’s not that I don’t want to spend time with my children; it’s just I want to spend less time with them.

You seem like a “hands-on” parent, and I’m more like a “figure it out with your own two hands” parent because these days my serenity is hanging on by a thin thread. As parents, we have so much responsibility as it is. We have to feed our kids, clothe them, and drive them to school and back. Must we also supervise them around the clock?

As for entertaining the children, isn’t that why we have Xboxes and iPads? I had Netflix all set up for our kids to watch just in case they got bored with playing outside. Having another mom to hang out with is such a treat for me. I feel like I can finally talk about adult stuff rather than farts, Paw Patrol, trains, and the location of animal’s butts.

The homemade carrot cake you brought over for snack was delicious. I want to applaud you for your baking skills. It was a pleasant surprise because I was just going to place a big bowl filled with popcorn in the middle of the backyard and turn on the hose so the kids would have access to food and drinking water.

You also seem to have a fantastic imagination because you had no problem make-believing that my backyard was an archeology site filled with dinosaur bones. The kids seemed to love that. I hope you didn’t mind as I Snapchatted on my phone at the picnic table while you hung out with the kids. I just needed a little “me” time.

Now that all that is off of my chest, I have some ideas for the next playdate. You and I can hang out in the kitchen and gossip about all the other moms we see at school, or we could have a glass of wine and discuss anything Kardashian-related. If none of that sounds appealing, you and I could watch an episode of the Real Housewives of Atlanta together. The Housewives are the friends I’ve never met. You’ll love them!

You seem like a cool mom, and I could see our friendship turning into happy hours, a girl’s weekend in Vegas, and double date nights with our husbands. I would love to keep this thing going and have a playdate again. Please keep in mind everything I mentioned above. We’re around our children all the time, so why don’t we have a little adult time while they play in another part of the house?

If you would like to host the playdate at your house next time, I can bring the wine.

Talk soon!