December 9, 2009

Playdates

Playdates are big events at our house. In order to maximize/consolidate the fun, I like all of my children to invite friends over at the same time.

That, and a pupil-free day is how I ended up with six six-year-olds at my house yesterday afternoon.

Everyone in my family is naturally blessed with good social skills and we consistently pull out all the stops to impress our guests.

Case in point: Within ten minutes of the guests' arrival, Cortlen decided to remove his shirt.

"Put your clothes back on!" I snapped. A better response might have been to ask my son, "Why in world did you take your clothes off in the first place?"

Camber waited until the group was assembled at the kitchen table to make her big announcement.

"I know two bad words," she said proudly.

For the record, the two words in question are "stupid" and "dumb."

"Don't do it," I warned. We have strict rules about unsavory language in our house.

"One of the words starts with an 's,'" she continued, ignoring me.

At that, Kellen's friend jumped out of his chair and began waving his arms wildly. "I know! I know!" he shouted with excitement. The boy could barely contain himself.

The boy's exuberance made me suspect that he was not thinking of the same word as my daughter.

I called an emergency family meeting in the laundry room, minus friends.

"If you ever want to have friends come over again," I told my crew, "You'd better knock it off."

Everyone stifled a giggle but promised to hold it together.

Less than ten minutes later, Kellen and his friend army-crawled into the kitchen. It was apparent from their appearance that they were on a special mission. The friend was wearing Kellen's plastic army helmet. Kellen's head was covered by a pair of clean (I hope) G.I. Joe underpants.

****
Do your kids do totally bizarre/out of character things when their friends are over? I am officially mortified.

33 comments

Emz said...

Yes, but it usually involves personal family information ie, my dad farts [I'm sparing you some good ones - for my own reasons] ;) as soon as the front door is opened.

Brooks said...

My son likes to hit himself to solicit laughter from friends. I really do worry about him...

Sarah said...

EVERYONES kids do crazy stupid things when people are visiting. You just noticed because it was your kids and your house.

Christina said...

Totally. One of my twins (who is a girly girl about to turn 3) farts like a man. No reservations.

Working Mommy said...

Thankfully since the babe is a mere 5 months old, our play-dates are more for the enjoyment of mommies and not the babes!

Lainie said...

You mean, like, hanging out in the bedroom and getting a friend to pee in a cup? Or putting each other in a box and pushing it off the bed? My children would never...

KTW said...

This is funny stuff! :) I'm sure it wasn't so funny to you at the time, but looking back...you have to giggle! ;)

Confessions of a Mother, Lawyer & Crazy Woman said...

Yes. That is why we don't let my son have friends. Problem solved.

Tracey in Calgary said...

My ten year old son informed me yesterday that he knows 21 bad words....I can assure you, they aren't words like 'stupid' and 'dumb'...he has a fourteen year old brother. I am beyond the point of mortified, I am stupified really. ;-)
Apparently, my nephew was so excited to be spending time with his cousins at my Mom's house, that they were unable to even play their game of 'Sequence' and had to pack it away, he was so unruly...my Mom, not impressed at all. Not my kids though, because of course, they are PERFECT! ;-))))

Franklin Family said...

I love the way you blog - you set up the scenario so perfectly and I can picture exactly what's going on. And most of the time, I laugh right out loud.

I babysit my niece a few days a week, who is 18 months old. My daughter (who is now proud of her potty-trained state) will strip down to her birthday suit and teach her cousin how to go pee. She will, in turn, take off her cousin's clothes as well and demonstrate how to do everything. She's only 2 1/2 - I'm a little worried about her behavior when she's 5!

A Musing Mother said...

No. My children are always perfect. My 4 year old did not encourage his cousin to throw Legos all over the downstairs of his house. He did not show his cousin how to jump on his parents' bed and he did not model the correct way to play "tunnel" through the bed clothes.

Sherilyn -Dominee Huisvrouw said...

No, my kids are 3 & 1, so I have not had the joy yet, but I know I have something to look forward to (& blog about) as they get older!

The Four Week Vegan said...

That's why I find it best not to supervise too closely - then I don't have to see or hear any of it ;)

Malea said...

We, too, have had many a hair scrubbing due to underwear helmet hair. blech:) What is that saying? ...your calling and election are made sure.

Emmy said...

Lol! That is awesome.
And yes sometimes my kids just seem completely out of control and lose all ability to listen when friends are over.... or is that how they are everyday??

Melinda said...

A friend and I were approached recently as we lunched at Chick-fil-A. "Don't those two boys in the play area belong to you two?" Um, well lady, that would depend on what they're doing. It would seem that these lovely young 3 year olds were standing in front of the mirror with their pants down checking out the goods. No ma'am, those boys must belong to someone else...

Jen@Scrapingirl said...

I thought it was only my son who does that. He practically undresses also. HE'S 9!!!!! What is wrong with these people?!?!

Margaret said...

I always did weird things when I was little and had friends over

MaLeah said...

Well, we are now 30 and 25 years old, but my brother used to humiliate me every time I had friends over. Once he brought out a pair of my Garfield panties (that he snagged from the dryer) to show my then-boyfriend (I was around 12 or 13 years old). I retaliated by showing my then-boyfriend a pair of my brother's Snoopy drawers and a pair of Ninja Turtles ones, and a pair of GI Joes, and so on. I just kept em coming. He balled like a baby. I thought I'd get in trouble but my mom looked down on my please-please-sissy-stop-it begging brother and said, "You brought it on yourself!" She was a mean mom too. :) Revenge is sweet!

My son is only 7 months old and he's an only child so that was the best story I had. :)

Amalie said...

this one made me laugh out loud, thanks!

Casey M. said...

Don't know if this counts, but my four month old repeatedly farted like a grown man (no, two grown men) in front of company during thanksgiving dinner. I kept saying that it was her, but I could tell by everyone's faces that they didn't believe me. I wouldn't believe me, either. :D

Hillori said...

Everybody is making me laugh so hard. So glad to know that none of us can ever have company over without turning red in the face. We will all have to sit in our own respective homes and to keep our dignity intact, and not let our children speak to others until they are 18. Lets wish all of ourselves luck with that one! ;) Ah well, let's just laugh and enjoy the crazy memories we are making....after redressing them of course!

Liz said...

Yes! They like to tell their friends unsavory (FALSE) things about me!

Stacy said...

that is hilarious, sounds like my kids, it just blows our minds the way they do with friends over. For example, my 11 year old will say he gets to watch R rated movies, (he doesn't but thinks he does I guess, my daughter gets my cell phone out to show off her skills, and the list goes on and on until we pull them into our room and threaten to send the friends home!

Anonymous said...

My uncle had an "in-home" office for clients since he was an independent construction contractor. His son (my dear cousin) was 3 years old at that time and he brought my aunt's bra to the in-home office and showed it to the clients and said that these are my mommy's boo boos. My uncle was sooooo embarrassed that he couldn't do or say anything except turning beet root red. And the clients were probably so shocked that they hastily left without saying anything. From then on my uncle locked the office door from inside if he had any client meetings. Now this cousin is almost 18 years old and there are so many stories that it would take days to tell all of them. Oh my.. I hope my kids donot get any of those genes.

The Novelist said...

Just be afraid if they start to play doctor.

Brossettelewis said...

Never! We are always perfectly behaved angelic sweethearts.

{dude, that's why I blog. We have Herdman genes somewhere in our bloodline}

Brittany Ann said...

My kids do weird things without having friends over...perhaps I'm doing something wrong.

Diane J. said...

Oh geez! What haven't my kids done. The twins are a bit more tame than their older brother. Although, the tend to go to playdates and then when asked if they want a snack, they ask for steak (sheesh!) Let's see the oldest had a friend over and dared him to take the battery operated four-wheeler toy (you know the ones for toddlers...except him and his friend were 9 or 10) and go down the hill by our house. Needless to say it didn't work. I heard some horrible crashing sound and ran out to find the kid sprawled out on his back. A few cuts and bruises, but thankfully nothing broken. You know how embarrassing it is to return a child in worse shape than when they arrived? (Sigh)

Diva Ma @ Mommy Fabulous said...

LOLOL! I think mine would have given the friend the underpants!

Robin said...

Oh yes! My son completely looses his mind when he is around other kids! I've never seen anything like it. Not that he's a complete angel while he's alone, but I swear, it's like some hyperactive demon appears when company is around!

Unfortunately, it carries over to school, too. :o(

Robin :o)

Andrea Betty said...

it is so reassuring to me that I do not have terrible children, they are in-fact, just normal. Ahh to be normal!

Benigna Torviso-Marko said...

Okay and totally. The twins know exactly what you mean.