Am I supposed to be doing play dates?

Question

Baby girl is about to be 10 months on the 18 and shes watched by my grandma so she hasn't had much environment with other babies. Should I be scheduling play dates with her?

Answer

I literally had this conversation last week. And NO it is not needed. My mother is a kindergarten teacher for the county and has 2 masters in early childhood development and education,  a PhD, Board certified and teaches board certification courses to other teachers, Agnes myer teacher of the year 2xs, learning disabilities, hearing impaired, esol, ED immersion classroom, blah blah I could go on about her qualifications. Bottom line she is one of my best and most credible resources when dr google has me going haywire over what I should be doing for my LO. He will be 10months on the 15. So far we do 8 weeks of mommy and me swim classes (2xs a weeks 45mins) then after that course we began Spanish circle time at the local library once a week for 45mins. I felt guilty he caught a cold again and I basically put us on house arrest and was expressing to my mom I felt terrible for not taking him to his group but it wasn’t worth him getting everyone sick but it had been 14days. She explained over about two hours how it was not needed  and kind of pointless and to not feel guilty for it. Basically until around 20-24 infants do not understand social construct and cannot desire interaction within social groups, they only want the attention from their caregivers mom/dad/grandma/sitter this craving of interaction is due to meeting the needs of affection. So to sum up a 2hour discussion/debate- NO it is not needed to have play dates with other babies. It IS needed to give affection and attention from the baby’s loved ones and this is the most important. One of my concerns was that all the groups I’ve been to my LO doesn’t give a f**k about the other kids, I mean he will stare but doesn’t express a desire to interact with them, only cares about mom or dad and if there is music playing or toys he hasn’t seen before. Which is exactly what he is suppose to be doing at this age. So no worries your on track

Answer

You don’t HAVE to, but I’m sure baby would love it! My son has a play date a couple times a month with my girlfriend’s daughter and my son is also starting swim class this Friday so he’ll get to meet more babies around his age. He LOVES babies, so for him it’s the best lol

Answer

It’s not a bad idea to get her involved with other children. We take our son to a mommy and me music class once a week. He does go to daycare FT and has an older brother, so he gets a lot of interaction with other kids anyway, but it’s nice for him to have something to do with kids his age once a week. ☺️ See if you’re community hosts any classes. They’re usually inexpensive.

Am I supposed to be doing play dates?

Let's Glow!

The Top Baby Tracker App: Embrace New Beginnings with Tender Care

The Top Fertility Tracker App: Your Path to Achieving Pregnancy

The Top Pregnancy App: Nurturing Your Journey to Motherhood

The Top Period Tracker for Empowering Your Menstrual Health Journey