How often does your 7 year old have people round for dinner after school?

[handlansa]

Out of interest.

i want to make sure my son is getting enough social time and I have no framework because my mum never bothered to facilitate my social life!

Fridays seem to be playdate day at our school
DC1 not often as she was really tired on Fridays
DC2 had an after school playdate most Fridays I’d say

Yeah?

At least once a week.

He’s a lovely, sociable boy. I, on the other hand, have always struggled with socialising for various reasons. Part of it was that my mother never really supported me in making friends. I could possibly be on the autism spectrum, though if so, it’s quite mild. I just want to make sure he gets all the right experiences and opportunities even if it sometimes feels a bit like “keeping up with the Joneses.”

That's quite a lot! Is it a childcare arrangement or you're just very sociable?

only during the odd half term on my days off mid-week

When ds was that age probably once a week.

Not often and erratically due to work commitments and busy schedules all round.

She has a few hobbies where she mixes with other kids, birthday parties, club events and we see my longstanding friends' kids that she gets on well with - life is already busy!

Kids also have lunchtime and breaks at school to play with friends, I don't really get this obsession with having kids round and 'playdates' all the time, family time and downtime is important too.

Never, most dcs at her school do an activity club 3-5 days a week after school, so there's never a weekday when she and any of her friends are both free.

This was 20 years ago. They would also go to a friend's for tea weekly. Fewer after school clubs then...mine did activities only on a Saturday morning and usually saw friends in the afternoon.

My 7 year old (y3) went to the trampoline park after school with a school friend and mum (and me) then she took them both to McDonald’s and dropped them off and I’ve said I’ll have him round for tea soon. But this is the only time it’s happened

In term time... Close to never. Although we do have the odd play date at weekends and in school holidays.
It makes me a little bit sad, as during my primary school and early secondary days, I either went to someone's house, or had someone at mine, basically every week. My childhood BF and I alternated weekly playdates for years!

But I guess it was a bit of a different time. It was the early 90s, my mum was a housewife, and my friend's mum had a VERY part time 2 mornings a week type job. So I guess parents had a bit more time to facilitate play dates.

Pretty much never. I think he’s had a friend round once or twice ever that was strictly a play date for him.

We live rurally so everyone has to drive to us or we’d have to go collect them. We are often running around to activities (for other dc) after school, so no time for a play date.

We have neighbours over to play (they are actually older, more for dd who is 12), but they do play together and sometimes we have BBQs with their parents (our friends).

But pretty much never do traditional play dates. With dd, those started more around 9 when they were a bit more independent, having sleepovers, etc.

Hardly ever. Same as many others on here, DC goes to afterschool club several times a week and has activities too. I don’t think it impacts her social life at all, she has plenty of friends.

I’m a sahm and I don’t do this.
We go to the park/ playground or cafe on the way home from school depending on the weather or maybe up to soft play or to the library.
I’ve had a few hints from people looking for offers (there wouldn’t be any offer in return because of their circumstances). I’m not up to taking kids from the time school finishes til tea time. The one time I did, it was hard going. They absolutely trashed the place and they were very fussy eaters. Later turned out they had just had a stomach bug and weren’t quite over it. The mum came in and instead of just picking them up she came in and had a cup of coffee, sat on her phone while I watched (her two kids and my one) for another forty minutes.
It put me off for life.