Play dates

[5felttips]

Hi, I'm mum to a 5 year old boy. I'm solo parenting and my boy is an only child, we live in a small village and have no neighbours. My son socialises very well at school and is invited to parties but the only play dates we go on are ones organised by me (we never get invited on those).
I know other parents are busy looking after their partners and other kids at this time of year but I'm beginning to feel a bit left out. I want him to see his friends but I don't want to be seen to be pestering the other parents.
Any suggestions?

If you have no neighbours then you need to socialise more or move, you are isolated, so your son is also

This wasn't terribly useful, anyone else got any ideas?

Is your sonptivately educated? We struggle to organise play dates at our school because everyone lives so far away (the furthest family from us live over an hour away) and the kids don’t really care at that age. Downside of not having catchment areas. You may want to take him to something a bit more local like scouts or something in order to find friends that are local.

I was in a similar situation we live in a rural area no children around and I'm solo parenting. When my son was at nursery and primary school id often invite other children over. On occasions I'd have mini parties with several children at once. I didn't know any of the parents and working full time meant I didn't do drop offs pick ups very often to didn't get chance to mingle. I would send notes via the teachers or my son to the other children's parents inviting them over and then we'd swap numbers. Often people's inherent politeness would mean we got return invites and this way I got to 'know' some of the parents. It takes extra effort it's not easy. Good luck

Thanks.
It does seem to take a lot of effort sometimes and there seem to be more people without an inherent sense of politeness than I had anticipated. X.

Persevere OP at least then your child will have friends over even if it is you doing all the running. It'll improve as he gets older as he'll convince other children to natter their parents into having him over

DD is 5 and has only once been asked to play anywhere, and then I stayed too to catch up with the other parents.
I work ft and am single parent so it's not easy, DD keeps asking to have friends round though so will need to make more of an effort next year - can't do anything midweek though so limited to weekends which tends to be 'family time' for others.

Don't rely on just school.
What else do you do? Do you not have friends you meet with sometimes? Is there something he might be interested in doing for fun / interest? Is there anything going on in the village that you might meet people at, which then expands your social circle?

Keep inviting children over. It doesn't really matter if they ask you back, as long as your son socialises ,is making friends and having fun.
This time of year is tricky though with visiting families,big dinners, people being off etc. Just send a friendly, no pressure text "Hey would x like to come over tomorrow?"

Yes I agree with others just keep doing what you are doing. If you want your child to socialise then keep asking other children over. Don't worry about the reciprocating. Sometimes things take time and hopefully your DC will have done invites before too long.