Play dates for your kids?

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Are you choosing to isolate, or do you let your kids play with neighbors during this time?

Personally I’d love to just isolate ourselves, but I have a very social seven year old, and the neighbor children are running around in our front and back yard and my daughter so wants to play. We let her hang out with a neighbor friend today. They just jumped on the trampoline and rode bikes in the front yard. Did some art together.

I can’t decide what’s the right call. It would be so hard for her to be so isolated for eight weeks, especially when she can hear and see kids playing outside. Ugh. I generally love living in a big neighborhood, but now I’d prefer to be away from others.

Neither the neighbor’s family nor my family has high-risk members, but they aren’t isolating themselves at all. Their teen continues to work at a restaurant, their daughter had a sleepover with three girls last night, and the dad continues to work on medical flights. So they are pretty exposed to the outside world.

What are you all doing with your kids?

Seems cruel to keep them in. Seems irresponsible to let them out.

 

[fly girl]

Outside riding bikes, kicking the soccer ball, playing frisbee, cornhole, or using sidewalk chalk at the 6 foot distance I say enjoy! (Trampoline, take turns.) They have said go enjoy the outdoors just keep the social distance. There are plenty of things kids can do that far apart.

Rainy day, out of luck as I think indoor play is too close of proximity.

 

[gotomu212]

Ours are staying in, although we are going on family walks with just us once a day and in 3 days have only passed one other dog walker on the opposite side of the street. My stance is that if this is serious enough that they can’t go to school, then we need to isolate otherwise it’s for naught and will drag this out.

My son is very involved with online coding though and the kids he talks to on the weekend are all off school so he’s at least getting a lot of conversation still.

 

[GusGus77]

Not allowing the kids to play with friends at all here. That just negates the whole reason the schools and all these other places are closed to begin with. Now if the kids want to be outside and are at least 6ft apart and chat or whatever I may consider it (but I am supervising to make sure of that distance) but otherwise, definitely not. To me, it is part of being socially responsible. Those who are not taking this seriously make me crazy. (Not saying you, OP. I am referring to your neighbor.)

Editing to add that I have no idea why my post is in bold or how to unbold it- Sorry!!!

 

[mumto3girls]

I am trying to socially isolate as much as possible. My younger girls found out during the school day Friday that they would not be returning to school again until at least March 29th—I fully expect that to be extended. They did go out with friends that evening. I told them Saturday that they were done socializing in person for the foreseeable future and the 4 of us were home alone all day Saturday.

On Sunday the 4 of us drove the 2 1/2 hours to oldest DD’s university and packed her up. Her roommates and their parents were also moving out along with a few hundred other people in her building. I felt a bit panicky about what we were exposing ourselves to and nagged about hand washing but that was our situation. She has not gone out since she’s been home, but most of her friends are home too and I know she wants to see them. While she was in high school and on breaks she worked at Dunkin’ and I know she’d like to pick up a few shifts, but I am hoping it won’t work out. I did hear that they are running drive through only which I feel a lot better about. Her school is finishing the semester on-line so she won’t be going back to campus until fall.

My parents only live about 10 minutes away from us and I am most concerned about them, particularly my dad who is 78 and has some asthma and other lung issues. He is the primary caregiver for my mother who is in the later stages of Alzheimer’s. My mother is difficult on her best day, without my dad she would be 1000 times worse. Even a brief separation from him would be miserable for her and whom ever was taking care of her. My kids get this, but they are very social and used to busy schedules with sports, school etc.

 

[barkley]

Neither the neighbor’s family nor my family has high-risk members, but they aren’t isolating themselves at all. Their teen continues to work at a restaurant, their daughter had a sleepover with three girls last night, and the dad continues to work on medical flights. So they are pretty exposed to the outside world.

this is my concern.
just because your neighbor's family has no high risk members doesn't mean they aren't coming into contact with yet undiagonsed cases and thereby exposing others who will put yet others (low and high risk) in danger.

to demonstrate how things can pass on-

i just learned that my adult child's workplace was exposed to a now diagnosed case. i am hopeful that my adult child was not exposed and did not pass that exposure on to myself, dh, ds b/c that means we (all in high risk) have exposed through VERY LIMITED contact just one set of neighbors (high risk category) who have had med appointments in the last week potentially exposing their providers/other patients who could have exposed others.

the reason schools are being let out is to limit contact, facilitating it is reckless and disregarding the health of your child, your family and countless others.

where we live-2 weeks quarantine if exposed so if if one of your kid's play date's dad's transports was a virus patient then your child, you, anyone you interacted with, the teen kid's co-workers/customers ...would have all be deemed potentially community exposed and would be on basically 'house arrest'.

 

[superme80]

Not right now. It is cold, rainy, and snowing. Once the weather gets better, we will set something up. We live on 2 acres, so we can have the space needed.

 

[unrequited23]

Everyone in our neighborhood has been keeping the kids indoors, but it has been a little chillier here. We've done yard work, neighborhood walks and some hikes. A mom from my youngest's preschool expressed she was interested in having the kids facetime with each other just to stay in touch. Once the weather turns it will be harder to keep inside. I might let them play at an out door playground if there are less then 10 people there, but it all depends on what the situation is like at the time.

 

[Mango7100]

I would not allow it. From what I understand, they are saying a play date is OK with one other family as long as both families are isolating and only interacting with each other. If the other family is out and about, you are not only coming in contact with them but with all the other people they come in contact with...and that seems like a lot if one of their kids is at a restautant and the dad is in the medical field.

for now, we aren’t allowing our child to have any play dates. She is 6 and an only child, so I am freaked out that she won’t have any contact with another kid for awhile. Non of her friends live in our neighborhood so it’s not like they can even see each other across the fence. We did talk about doing FaceTime with friends from school and writing letters to friends (both as a way to practice writing and as a fun thing to look forward to getting a letter in the mail)

 

[Christine]

The real issue here, of course, is not the children. It's the parents and then who the parents go see (grandparents). I think that I'd be fine letting my kids play with other children in the situation you described (outdoors, close by) if I knew the adults were all isolating. So, I wouldn't do it if you your kids could pick up something, give it to you, then you have to go to the grocery store where others are or you have to visit an elderly parent. Same with the neighbors.

 

[Bre23]

There is definitely no playing with other kids here and my 11 year old is being extremely understanding and mature about it. We are a multi generational family, my mom is 65 oxygen dependent and immune compromised my kid definitely gets that the choices she makes affect Nanas health. We’ve been going on walks, riding bikes, playing games and doing a ton of crafting, sewing , scrapbooking, painting etc..

Its very important that we as parents and caretakers of children explain this situation to kids in a way that makes them understand that they have the power to protect others.

 

[anniemae]

We are not allowing it. It's just too risky. The only way this madness will end is if we all comply. Too many people think the rules don't apply to them or that if nobody is showing symptoms it's fine, or that if nobody in their family is at risk it's fine. This way of thinking will make this mess continue IMO. We have been going out for walks around the neighborhood and on local trails in the woods. It's hard but its necessary. People do not want to stay put but it seems vital at this point. Teach compassion and empathy for our most vulnerable.

 

[mjkacmom]

Everyone in our neighborhood has been keeping the kids indoors, but it has been a little chillier here. We've done yard work, neighborhood walks and some hikes. A mom from my youngest's preschool expressed she was interested in having the kids facetime with each other just to stay in touch. Once the weather turns it will be harder to keep inside. I might let them play at an out door playground if there are less then 10 people there, but it all depends on what the situation is like at the time.

Our parks, athletic fields and parks are closed.

 

[aprilchem]

No play dates here. We have explained to the kids why play dates are risky, why we are working to protect the vulnerable members of the population, and how disease transmission works. They understand, for the most part, but when we get pushback we're firm.

OP, I would really rethink allowing your kids to do this. Look at the guidance from the CDC,WHO, and other organizations. I don't think it's "cruel" to keep them in; it's responsible.

 

[DisLiss]

Definitely not allowing play dates here. Nor are we allowing our teen to hang out with his friends. (And boy are we getting push back on that front!)

My kids can survive hanging out with just their immediate family for awhile. And if they think that's too much of a burden for their poor little selves I'll have them read/research other times in history and how kids/teens lived back then.

Right this second any one of us could already have the virus and not know it. So if my kid plays with your kid, your kid would likely wind up with the virus. Then you'd get the virus from your kid. And hey, maybe that seems fine because maybe neither my household nor yours has any high risk individuals in it. But eventually you will need to go to the grocery store and you can pass along the virus to the cashier who has a medically fragile child; or I might pick up take out orders from the local pizza place and give it to the person manning the window who lives at home with an at-risk parent, etc. It's not just about protecting the high risk people we know personally. It's bigger than that.

 

[Runnergal]

No playdates. We have left the city for our summer place and luckily there are no kids around so it’s not an issue. They can play with each other.

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Some great thoughts here.

I read more and talked with my husband and we’ve decided to isolate. I had a talk with my daughter this morning and told her she could not play with her friends today or in the next few weeks. I’d tell her to stay six feet part, but I don’t think she actually will.

It’s going to be hard, but we have to stay strong on this. We may even tell the neighbors not to bring friends over to jump on our trampoline. It’s especially hard for my little one when her friends are in our backyard laughing and playing and she can see them and hear them but she can’t join them.

My older daughter has social media access and can chat and FaceTime with her friends, so it may not be as hard for her.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[MarkLT1]

No play dates for our kids. We are very lucky in that we have 4-acres for them to explore, a play-set that my dad and I built 8-years ago, and suddenly is being used, and some awesome walking paths that are rarely used just off our yard. So the kiddos have full range of our acreage, and we plan on taking a family walk each day in the afternoon to get out and about. Obviously we'll be keeping our 6-10' distance from any others we see while out on a walk.

 

[siren0119]

We have found other ways to keep the kids from feeling isolated, it's not easy with two social boys!

They have messenger kids installed on their tablets and have been actively chatting and goofing off with friends through video chat.

One of their friends is going to have a Dungeons & Dragons game using their online platform and ******* for chat (monitored by adults on either end).

We are making videos to email to loved ones and getting some back to watch

We are participating in Facebook live streams - we found zoos & Aquariums, art teachers, dance teachers, science teachers...so many people willing to share for free online to enrich the kids.

It's definitely hard, but I believe totally necessary for a little while. Kids are resilient, they will be fine!

 

[Hikergirl]

My youngest is 16 so no playing outside with other kids, but I told him his friends aren't allowed over and neither is his girlfriend. Luckily they have facetime and Xbox live to "get together" otherwise he'd be driving me crazy.