To really dislike the phrase 'play date'.

[GerardWay]

It sounds so daft. They are toddlers/children.

I also really dislike hearing that xxx has a boyfriend round for a playdate. Oh, and sending valentines cards between very young children. Why, why, why...

i dislike the phrase. but, i can see that it is economical and meaningful. it really describes what's going on. an arrangement has been made, to play...its not always a boy/girl thing, is it?
and i've never heard of very young children sending valentines.

YANBU

I think it originated in America didn't it?

Either way it grates on me and I'm not sure why.

Probably because to me it's always been 'Having a friend over to play'

I told friends of mine (a couple over 60) that I was really pleased I had a 'play date'. They looked horrified, they thought it had 'dubious' overtones! I think they were thinking 'playboy' 'playmate' etc... they got a bit confused.

My DC's are now teenagers but last year come Valentines day on FB it was weird seeing parents boast about their toddler valentines cards and who they had received them from.

Never heard of playdate before I visited this site. To me it's 'coming round' or 'going over' to play.

It's not the 'play' that I hate, more the 'date'. Children go out to play not to date.

There used to be a poster on here who always used to go on about her son having his girlfriend around - ds taking his girlfriend to the cinema, ds looking for a nice present for his girlfriends birthday - kinda gives the impression the son is between 14 and 17 right? but no ... he was 9

Oh dear GuideDogs, it's worse here. We are talking about 2 year olds. ~sad sighs~

YANBU

I think that you have to accept that is here to stay like the equally ridiculous 'baby wearing', 'baby led weaning', attachment parenting' etc.

I suppose it's like saying 'lunch date' with a friend though- it just means an arrangement, not a romantic thing.

I do dislike it though- what is wrong with 'coming round for tea' etc?

Hmm to me it just means, making a date in my diary ie friday,
to come over for the kids to play.

The phrase I HATE is 'date night' that makes me want to vom ..

Yes, I really hate 'date night'

YANBU to dislike it, each to their own. I use it.

YABU to think that it is in anyway similar to sending valentines cards or having boyfriends/girlfriends.

A date is a set day i.e. today's date is 8th September 2012. You can make a date to have lunch/a haircut/a child round to play. If you're reading something inappropriate into the term 'play date' then the problem is yours!

would love to know when a mate dropping in for a coffee and natter/gossip while the kids run riot in the garden became a "playdate", was talking to my young neighbour about this today, is life so organised nowadays that even kids playing at someone elses house has to be booked in a diary lol, prefer the old system where i bumped into a friend and either she and kids came to mine on spec or we went to thiers

I saw a 'Facetime Playdate' arranged recently. Twats.

It's yet another Americanism that's crossed the pond to plague us.

Like bloody baby & bridal showers. And Halloween is getting bigger every year .

don't really mind play date but do toddlers really send valentine cards?? DS is 3 so are we entering new territory? I often feel a bit out of the loop with things that go on at his pre-school because I work and don't see a lot of the things they do (which are often only advertised in the lobby). I missed that I was meant to send xmas cards to all the other kids, that we were meant to send him in with cakes near his birthday etc. Girlfriends / boyfriends ??? Jeez!

Well I have an issue with it too but for a different reason.
'Coming round' means that. One child wants to play with one yours. They are coming round, see if your child is here/happy to play and then ... of they go.

A play date means something organized, it is assumed they will have tea (and you open the huge worm can of what to give them etc...). In some cases, it means you will also have organized some games for the dcs to play blabla.
That I really have a problem with. Why should I organize my dcs social life? As toddlers they don't have/need one. As school age children they can easily express the 'oh I want to play with so and so and do so wo the input of an adult.

The answer? Do not use Americanisms - in language, events like trick or treat (not important enough for capital initials), cupcakes (we call them fairy cakes with too much icing), being fat, McDonalds. List is endless and I manage not to use any of them. Ignore what others do and stick to Britishness (or Welshness or Irishness or Scottishness or Englishness if you prefer).

Ah, RuleBritannia, your above post is like a breath of fresh air. Hear-hear to no Americanisms (in speech, actions, events, spelling, or food). Cupcakes are the pinnacle of all this rubbish, although I also balk at all the other ones you've listed.

It's disappointing that most of this banal and vacuous rubbish tends to cluster around the rituals of womanhood/motherhood. For instance: baby showers, huge hen-dos, dressing up as "sexy witches" at hallowe'en (even though it was always just a little kids' thing to just dress up in a sheet as a ghost), competitively huge and obscenely expensive children's parties, meeting our "girlfriends" for a "cupcake-fest", "baby-wearing", "play dates", being "mommies", drinking "skinny mocha frappaccinos", blah blah blah.

Bollocks, the lot of it.