A Stay at Home Mom's Saving Grace

Play dates. 

Hands down play dates are my saving grace (besides Jesus of course) and I don't think I could live without them. 

The older Christian gets, the more important play dates have seem to become in our days, our weeks.

I haven't worked outside of the home for almost 3 years now and have been home with our little man for almost 2 years. Despite that I would consider myself more of an introvert, that is a lot of time built up without a lot of adult interaction, or social interaction for Christian too.

During the summer, play dates can be something that aren't as crucial to our week, but in the winter, we LIVE for play dates. In the upcoming weeks, we actually have a play date or some sort of activity or event almost every morning Monday - Friday.

5 Reasons I Can't Live Without Play dates

1. Sometimes this is the only way I have adult interaction in a day.
Some play dates are very mommy involved play dates (playing at the park, story times, going to the zoo, various classes, etc) but some play dates are the "moms all sit on the floor and drink coffee and try to talk over the screaming, running, making lots of noise kids". But no matter what kind of play date it is, mama gets her needs for human contact met. And has a reason to get dressed...sometimes. Because yoga pants pretty much work for all occasions...

2. Christian is learning to share and interact with others. 
Since Christian is still an only child, his only real chances to really learn to interact with kids his age and practicing sharing are when we are out with other people...enter play dates :) And play dates at other people's homes seem to be the perfect breeding ground for my little man to be the best at sharing. Watch, tomorrow he will beat another kid over the head for a toy. But seriously. The other day he played so well with his little friend and kept handing him toys and trading back and forth. My jaw kept hitting the floor! Which leads me to my next point...

3. Christian sometimes is better behaved at other people's homes.
For real. I don't know what it is, but at home he pushes the limits like crazy. When we are at other places, he generally obeys right away. Which makes my life 100 times easier and we both have happier days! Maybe its because he is fully engaged and distracted and doesn't have as much opportunity to "explore" things that he shouldn't....However, we do have a good handful  of play dates at our home too, which often leads to Christian struggling to share more than usual, but that's good for him too!

5. They help fill our days, break up the time, and wear Christian out for nap time. 
Most of the time *knock on wood* after a good long and active play date, Christian will come home and nap for 2 1/2 - 3 hours! Which, depending on the play date could mean mama was just good and productive OR mama had to use that time to rest too! But they keep us from getting bored and provides new stimulation for Christian which often leads to good sleep. Win win if you ask me!

So how about you? If you stay home do you prefer to be mostly home, or do you live for play dates? What are your favorite play date activities? 

I'm linking up with Pursuit of Pink and For Lauren and Lauren for this post!