Over the years I’ve noticed the play dates us mom arrange for the kids has changed.

When we had our first children we would meet for a couple of hours at one of the mom’s houses and moan about our lack of sleep or the color of our kids poop. We would sit in the same room as the kids and if they so much as brushed past another kid we would ask in a sing song voice for apologies or kindly remind them to be polite. Share sweetness! Take turns honey!

This past Thursday I had my friends Pam and Laurie over. Between the three of us moms we had six kids, five of which were boys.

There was no talk of poop, no sing song voices, no sweetness or honey. There were drinks for the adults upstairs and who knows what downstairs. As long as there was no crying us moms didn’t seem to mind.

Play dates are even better when Doug arrives to help!

It’s not just a play date for the kids anymore. It’s for the adults as well!

I must say, it’s better this way. My father once said, benign neglect can be a good thing when raising kids. The kids have more fun without us constantly reminding them to behave, the adults have more fun without having to constantly remind about behaving. The mess is about the same whether or not I’ve have other people over and after you’ve gotten a good gossip and buzz going bedtime is much less tedious.

Afterwards I did find little chocolate hand prints located in sporadic places and there is a new gash in the wall that could have happened that evening but all in all I’m surprised at how little damage was done. I’ve seen much worse in the past, like bathroom flooding and once my entire jewelry box was dumped.

So let me take this opportunity to shout out to Laurie and Pam – you and your kids are welcomed to trash my place while we trash our liver anytime!