Book Club and Impromptu Playdate

CH was mentioning an interest in forming a book club and put things in motion with our library. AM took the reigns and put it all together, and voila, book club city. We met for the first time the other day, and the kids are all friends so it was a nice group.

They created a younger book club for kids N’s age, and he wasn’t so thrilled about it and even indicated that he was not interested, so I had to sort of force the issue. We decided to try it out before balking at the whole idea, though I understand where he’s coming from. He’d rather hang with the big kids, especially the big boys, but they’re reading books that are a bit beyond his level, or for that matter, interest. Besides, the group is small, and if he bails, it will pretty much collapse.

AM ran the big kids club, and CH ran the little kids club, and they both did such a nice job. Everyone had fun, even N enjoyed it. I think he can read better than he lets on, and he’s beginning show a greater interest in books than ever before, so we could be on the cusp of something big. Stay tuned for more.

After the book club, the kids went outside and went crazy for about an hour, running around while parents got to have some time doing important parent things, like checking email or hockey scores. When it was time to get going, everyone wanted to have a playdate, so we all piled into our respective cars and headed on over, of all places, to our house. I volunteered to have everyone over to destroy our house. When I was a kid, my parents were so uptight and rigid that we were never allowed to have kids over, and if we did, it was always a big to-do that made it absolutely ZERO fun. Nothing, and I mean nothing, was ever spontaneous. I vowed to be more relaxed as a parent when it came to having people over, even though I incur the wrath of R, it’s fun for the kids to have their friends over at the spur of the moment. What’s the big deal? We’re all friends, right?

Also, A&R’s friends are pretty mellow, and don’t tear things apart. They are mature and conscientious, though in the past we’ve had kids come over and literally take the house apart while the parents just sit there and watch. Amazing.

In the end, everyone had fun, it was just for an hour, and they didn’t require feeding. Just a quick beverage that A prepared for everyone. We had to go to hockey, so we couldn’t hang for too long, but I’m all for having them over again in the future. Bring it on, as the saying goes.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Zsuzsanna Kilian for the pic.