Playdate Drama

I got a phone call this summer from a mom of one of Trent's friends. She wanted to get the boys together for a playdate, but this is the same boy who gave Trent so much trouble in kindergarten (you may remember this) so I never called her back. She called back again a couple of weeks ago and I felt bad. I called her and she asked if Trent could come over one day after school. Knowing Trent, I knew that wouldn't go over very well so I invited his "friend" to come over here.

I later told Trent about the upcoming playdate. He flipped out! "C. is mean. I don't want him to come over here." We went through this for about a week. Then Tuesday we were in full-on cry mode. Trent didn't want him to come over. No way. No how. "Call his mom right now," he said. There was a problem with that. If I cancel the playdate, she would want to reschedule. If I told her the truth, Trent was going to have to face this kid at school on Wednesday and probably explain to his face why he doesn't like him.

This presents a huge problem for Trent. Although he is very opinionated about his likes and dislikes at home, he is a pleaser at school. His teacher said at our conference he has such a hard time deciding on who to sit with at lunch or who to play with at recess because he doesn't want to hurt peoples' feelings. (Are we talking about the same kid?) She says everyone really likes him at school. The poor boy si just too liked. Apparently that's the reason C.wants to play with Trent.

He came up with a whole bunch of wildly ridiculous ideas to excuse himself from the playdate: "Tell his mom we go to the grocery store after school every day." (Okay, I DO go to the store every day, but surely not with five kids in tow.) "Tell his mom I got invited to a birthday party." (The day before?)

We finally solved his anxiety by saying that if C. was mean, I would call his mom and ask her to come get him. In the meantime, his brothers came up with some solutions of their own. The most recent one, and the one which stuck, was to give him an "atomic wedgie" if he treats Trent badly. Trent laughed when this was mentioned, especially when Lance said he probably wears pink underwear.

So my boys will stand up for one another albeit not with the most appropriate responses. We're so proud!