When can we have a play date?

Now that school is over Leah and Elizabeth have been asking me when they can have a play date with some of their friends from daycare. The whole idea of a play date is new to me. Whatever happened to going over to some one's house and asking if he or she could play? Apparently that isn't how it works anymore. I've found that parents are now responsible for setting up times for their children to interact with other kids. That seems like too much work for adults and not enough responsibility on the children.

For our daughters there really hasn't been a need for play dates. Both girls have been going to daycare since 3 months old so they've been able to be around kids their own age almost everyday for their entire lives. There are also many children who live in the houses on our cul de sac that they can hang out with. Occasionally they will go inside and play with their neighbors, but most of the time spent together is outside. If Leah and Elizabeth get together with children from church I am usually around and school friends live too far away to just randomly stop over to play.

Yesterday I ended up calling a mom of 2 girls from daycare (who also happens to be a teacher at school) to see if Leah and Elizabeth could play. The details were set up for them to go to their house this morning. The girls were ecstatic! I couldn't believe the excitement and the amount of effort they took getting ready by themselves. It was definitely noteworthy of a photograph. They had a blast for the 2 hours that they were there without me. I think I like this play date concept. My morning all by myself was very productive!