After school
Mon, 2004-05-31 22:08 — mrb
I heard one half of a frightening conversation this morning, with a power-mum talking loudly into her mobile phone :
- Hi, is that Helen's mum ?
- Yes, Andrew would love to come along to the party. Also, Andrew was wondering if Helen could come over for some play time ?
- Great, so when would she be available ? Only Andrew's schedule is really tight at the moment, and Tuesday is the only day he has any free time...
I'm guessing the children in question are probably around 3-5 years old - is it normal to have life so planned out at that age ? I have fond memories of coming home from school, eating a quick evening meal, then dashing out to run around with friends until summoned home complaining when it was time for bed.
That was the daily routine, apart from cub-scouts once a week. But it sounds like BabyB is going to need her own FiloFax (sorry, PDA these days) ...
MrB
Finding friends
I think it depends on where you live. In my housing estate there are a lot of kids. They all go out to meet and play in the play ground between about 4:30 pm and 7:00 pm (when the heat is less debilitating, and the older ones have homework done).
I have a friend in a village near Shatin whose kids have been going out to play independently since they were about 4 years old.
But, if you live in a highrise w/ less space for kids to meet up and play; or your kids make friends at school and cannot converse w/ their neighbors, then I suppose the parents have to arrange the so-called "play dates".
As for the kids tight schedules - it is pretty frightening what some kids have. But I have to admit that my kids have 1 to 2 scheduled activities a week, not counting Sunday School.
Re:After school
SKM, yes, maybe it is more to do with the difference between growing up in a city and growing up in a small town, rather than HK vs UK.
Or maybe I've just reached that age where I've started talking about "the good old days", and younger people roll their eyes !!
MrB