8 year old has to stay in to study

[Swimmingwithoutfloats]

My Dd, 7 has a best friend on the road who she loves to play with. They often play together some weekends and occasionally in the evenings in summer.
He hasn’t been able to play out at our house or his due to tests at school.
Every time my Dd has knocked on, he’s said he has to stay in because there are tests at school at the moment and he has to do work. He loves very sad
Its been beautiful weather and Dd and another friend on the street have invited him for bike rides or to play on the trampoline or to swim in the pool and he isn’t allowed.
He stays fairly late at school, then goes to clubs/football etc, comes home, does homework and goes to bed.

Often at the weekend, he says he can’t play and sits in doing video games

Aibu to wonder why he can’t just play with his friends and be a child?

😂😂Yes, exactly this, which is why I reluctantly said about all the parents being middle class (very middle class-these are real swimming pools, not blow up ones) but I felt a bit uncomfortable saying exactly what the area is like. It’s a very wealthy area, where the children just happen to play together at each other’s homes and gardens and sometimes in the woods with the parents and dogs and on their bikes or scooters.
But really, that shouldn’t matter one iota, if it was a council estate and a great community of kids growing up and forming friendships too, that would be a positive too surely

Nailed it! Though I'd say the left/right thing is far overpowered by the working/middle class thing.

I didn't know it was such an alien idea for children to call for each other until this thread, or that people found it annoying. I thought this was a universal thing all children did.

Only on mumsnet. There are a disproportionate number of socially awkward people who have a drawbridge instead of a front door, which they won't answer and get offended if someone rings their phone or doorbell.

When DD was little I didn't call having friends round playdates. It was just having a friend come to play, often spontaneously.

Maybe they dont want your child to keep on knocking?

They probably look at you and think that the way you are raising your daughter is sad.

I live in a culture that would hold that family up as an example of excellent parenting, and look down on you for not providing your child with as much support and help.

Are they right? Or are you right? Will your child be happier? Will theirs get better grades? Who will lead the best life?

You are welcome to have an opinion on the answer to those questions, and it is an interesting debate. But only if the whole judgmental framing of the post, and the "let kids be kids" moral superiority is reduced a bit.

When DD was little I didn't call having friends round playdates. It was just having a friend come to play, often spontaneously

Well, language constantly evolves. And ‘having a friend come to play’ (which is what it was called when I was a child) is basically what people now call a play date. Calling it something different doesn’t change the premise.
Granted, it seems to be more difficult now for these things to happen spontaneously, but IME that’s because so many families have two full time working parents now and more children are in wrap around care. Therefore these things have to be planned and organised in advance for days off etc.

The judgment here started with the OP, who wasn’t content to think negatively about her neighbours, but felt the need to involve everyone here as well. There’s no flexibility in her thinking as she’s the expert on the situation and anyone offering an explanation must be wrong.

OP, if you’re seriously worried about the well-being of the child, do something about it. In real life. Coming here and criticising the parents makes your motive seem disingenuous in comparison.

Your response is over dramatic and bombastic.

??

My DS often tells friends he can't play for various reasons, usually made up in the spot.