I have to admit we rarely have playdates these days because I find the behaviour of the playdates so unmanageable. These are kids from 7-9 so I do expect better.
Examples.
I say very directly to playdate child "upstairs you can go in this room, but you are not to go in this room"... Five minutes later, child is in that room nosing through stuff so I say okay you've now got to come downstairs and be supervised as you went where I asked you not to go.
Other day a playdate came around to play with toys in garden. I told playdate and my child to stand and wait by the gate and I will let them through the other side of the date and directly into the garden. Playdate child refused saying he wants to go to the garden via the house (his shoes were not clean) ... I said he'd then have to take them off to walk 20 feet to put back on again, so no you wait by gate as you are asked to do. I open front door and playdate child barges his way in. He goes upstairs and I find him in my bed with his shoes on. So now I have to direct him downstairs to garden and I have to change all the bedsheets.
Another child could not sit and eat their snack over a plate, in fact kept wandering around and rubbing the food on toys and other household objects. Ended up spending time cleaning up.
Does anyone else find playdates so annoying and unmanageable? Or are we just a bit unlucky?