Toddler Playdate Phenomena

I feel like we’ve hosted enough of these recently that I have become aware of some recurring playdate phenomena.  No, not the expected typical “your child will flock to whatever toy another child is playing with even though he has ignored it for the past 3 months” or “your child will inevitably be the only one who ends up screaming/puking/fill in the blank”.  I’m talking more of the “the plastic egg that has been missing from your set for the past 6 mo. magically appears after everyone leaves” or the “where in the world did this stray slinky toy come from, despite e-mailing every single mother who was here this morning and NO ONE has claimed it”.  I have never purchased a slinky for my son (though he LOVES it and it’s a good idea), so there is no way I can claim ownership here…Possibly also throw in a “I had no idea that that toy had the capacity to be ‘turned on’ and thus, make noise before”, and as far as I can tell, you’ve got yourself a toddler playdate .  Pretty sure there are loads more of “Playdate Phenomena” and perhaps this would make an awesome title for the epic novel I have dreamed of writing for, oh, 20+ years?

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Meredith

Meredith blogs at The Mom of the Year, where she dedicatedly earns her title one epic parenting fail at a time, offering quick, relatable laughs for fellow parents and all their empathizers. She has been part of several best-selling anthologies, featured on prominent sites such as Huffington Post, In the Powder Room and BlogHer, and loves her role as the Executive VP/Operations Manager of The BlogU Conference. When she's not breaking up fights over Legos and juice boxes, she remains fully committed to sharing a less serious look at the world of parenting.

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