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What do your five yr old boys play together?

4 replies

misskeith · 12/02/2011 20:14

DS is hopeless when he has a friend over at the moment. Friend wants to 'play star wars', he wants to play pirates, neither will give in. Lego = grabbing and fighting over best bits. Board games = both have to win. They usually end up throwing all the bedding around and jupming on my bed. Is there an alternative [that doesn't involve my constant supervision]?

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Misfitless · 13/02/2011 08:34

What about only inviting your DS's friend over on a dry day and taking them to the park after school so that they can get rid of all their excess energy before tea?

Then maybe a little pirates/lego/board game before DS's friend gets picked up? IF they've had a run around already they may be more likely to play clamly and share/take turns?

If my DS and friends don't want to play the same game I insist that they play the friend's choice first (he's our guest so naturally gets first choice) eg for 20 mins and then my DS's choice for eg 20 mins.

Or, you could say, guests choice before tea, DS's choice after tea.

My DS's friend came the other day after school and they played Hide and seek / tag for almost the whole time - it was exceptionally noisy but they had a great time.

Making a den is another one - that goes down well and is neutral. You could have it ready for when they come out of school/back from the park.

I find sometimes that other parents expect their DC's to stay too long at my house or for my DCs to spend too long at their houses.

They'll often suggest picking up at 6:30pm but by the time they've got shoes on and I've had brief chat with parents it's 6:45 and I'm left with an exhausted son who is too tired to get ready for bed. (Normally we start getting ready for bed at 6pm and in bed for 7pm).

I've put my foot down now and suggest 5:30pm as a pick up which works well for us. They're a lot less likely to want to share and be reasonable hosts if they are too tired anyway, and I don't see the point of dragging it out and it ending with them falling out becasue they're tired.

I've had some raised eyebrows when I've mentioned that time but I'm not bothered.
Also if they're 15 minutes late at that time (which has often happened) it doesn't matter.

misskeith · 13/02/2011 10:55

making a den is a brilliant idea, thank you! taking turns not so good as they both insist they can't possibly play star wars/ pirates/ whatever the other one wants! totally agree about 6.30, way too late. PMSL at dry day though. Fat chance!

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Takver · 13/02/2011 18:06

I would definitely agree with 5.30 as a pick up time. DD is older now, but was very much the same at that age and that was definitely long enough!

I used to work on the principle of:

bring them home & provide a sit down snack, even if only some fruit - takes you up til at least 4 pm

have an organised activity up your sleeve that was interesting to dd as well as friend (decorating cookies with multi coloured icing /making toy dinosaurs out of rubbish/ giant pictures on lining paper etc etc) but making sure there were definitely two (or three) of everything so there was no sharing issues

give them tea (beans on toast or whatever) at 5 pm

ie leaving the minimum time for unstructured activity!

Of course often enough I didn't need to wheel out the 'activity' but it was always there for emergencies :)

And it may feel like it, but it doesn't last forever - these days (dd is 8) the main problem is sulks when friend has to go home Grin

PigeonPair · 13/02/2011 18:58

I find my DS (nearly 6) used to be a little territorial when friends came over and we would often end up with a bit of a row. He's much better now, but I found a good way to break it all up a but was to give them tea at 4.30 pm and then they can have a bit of time to play after tea before parents collect at 5.45 pm

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