A question on playdate etiquette I suppose....
Had a playdate last week at my house with my own two DDs (3 and 7 mnths) and my best friends two DSs (3.5 and 14 mnths).
Given that there were four children I would expect to be pretty busy, but to be honest I found it absolutely knackering as friend's DS1 was just all over the place.
It was sunny so I thought we'd play in the garden, but he constantly kept trying to walk through the flower beds / dig up the borders etc. NOthing horrendous, but all a bit trying. He also kept running into the house and dashing into different rooms. I tried telling him several times (as did my friend) that we were playing in the garden and not inside but he just didn't take any notice. (and he seemed to want to create chaos inside - bouncing on our bed, turning the taps on to make the bathroom sink overflow etc)
We finally decided it was time to go inside (after he had upended his drink during snack in the garden) and again I just couldn't keep him in one place. He ran into every room he could - at one point I had to hold the door of our bedroom shut to stop him going in there and tell him three times that he was not allowed.
At the end of the playdate I was knackered and the house was a bombsite. I don't want to imply that he was being a monster - he wasn't really, but he wasn't being particularly well behaved either and I found that he didn't listen to a damn thing I said.
So - to FINALLY get to my point. Do you think it is ok to physically prevent children getting into certain areas of the house - locking doors etc. When we were in the garden the only way I could have kept him there was to lock the kitchen door, but I was a bit worried my friend might think I was being a bit OTT if I did that. Is it a bit OTT - should I just accept that kids do run around the house and just get used to it?
It's not a huge issue, but it would make playdates so much easier if I knew that the kids wouldn't end up trashing the whole house!
I thank you.