by Holly Rosen Fink, Ruckus Media Staff Marketing Consultant
June 29th, 2011
If you’re familiar with the story of our new app, Chuck & Friends: Friends for the Long Haul, you know that Chuck has a lot of friends (other trucks, of course!). He spends his time leading his pals on high-gear adventures. Every time they get together, they have all kinds of issues that develop including sharing, teamwork, playing outside and more.
So, with all that in mind, we gathered with eighty-seven tweeps on Twitter and talked about play dates, friendship and other parenting issues. It was a popular night, partly because we were giving away the Chuck & Friends app, as well as prizes that were graciously donated by our friends at Playskool. The winners were xxkimhcxx, jen276here, ThatsItMommy, mellanhead, unkatchable73 and VectoringMomma. Congrats to all of them!
We were also so lucky and thrilled to have four guest moderators: ToyQueen, Thebigtoybook, Saving4someday and Teachwtechbrox.
If you’re wondering how play dates and apps go together, well, it’s simple. Read the questions and some of the responses that we got during the party to put two and two together. We actually did bring up the topic of play date planning apps, and it looked like no one in our group knew of any, so feel free to post any play date apps in the comment section below. We also learned about the newest kind of play date: Skype play dates. It’s a new day and age, and we’re all rolling with it.
Q1 - How much effort do you put into play date planning? Do moms contact you or do you contact them?
TeacherMomOfTwo They usually contact me and I don’t put as much planning into it as I would like to.
ToyQueen There are many drop-in type playgrounds at local playspaces, library, so I like the non-committal route.
A4CWSN We have play dates using Skype sometimes with other special need children 
mom4everandever Playdates are not forced but its good for socialization, let them play and be kids.
ADL_Kane I’ve had parents contact me on Facebook to schedule playdates. There’s irony there somewhere.
theteacherswife My son has social interaction issues so we keep it pretty low key on the playdates! Mostly close friends.
Lilac_the_bunny oh, I love the summer enrichment programs at the library! Excellent resource.
Zebastyandylan No real effort..we have a play group that gets together at least 1x a week.
Thebigtoybook I am more of a spur of the moment play date planner.
Shuggysmommy Play dates give me or the other mom some free time to do whatever which is also great.
Q2: How do you keep the peace among kids? Do you set ground rules? Do you set the amount of time for the play date? Do you drop your child off or do you stay? Do you let kids play electronics on play dates?
VectoringMomma I keep the peace with snacks and saying, “be sweet” a lot, lol!
Jen276here I don’t know – it just kind of happens on its own. We are not very structured in playdates.
Beeacutie2 media is known to rule our lives so keeping it down is a must even kids need to unplug.
xxkimhcxx set rules, and make sure they are sharing toys.
theteacherswife No electronics with small exceptions Need to learn how to socialize!
Duckyone I would make sure there’s enough of whatever they are playing with so they don’t fight over stuff.
Sleatham1 Sharing is a must, and not an option! They play outside and no electronics are allowed.
A4CWSN In today’s society, teaching our children to share on playdates with their electronics is very important.
unkatchable73 I see nothing wrong with interactive educational games on the xbox.
Q3: What are some no-fail play date activities?
Lilac_the_bunny Outdoor things…bubbles are always fun, playing sports, running around.
Thebigtoybook My kids love to try and play tag running around the stair case. Possibly their favpass time – even with ALL the toys.
Saving4someday My daughter liked legos or a craft or playing anything make believe.
ToyQueen I like sometimes using board games and play-doh, has a little structure but not too much, when I work with groups.
Peggysbooks We build forts – giant ones, inside or out. Dress up and crafty stuff always on hand.
Mommyinstincts Or outdoor things like water balloons.
unkatchable73 Personal play station – it’s a mini-play station.
VectoringMomma They love anything that goes VROOM, hehe!
7onashoestring I hate when others do that ignore my child. They should play!
Saving4someday tech is difficult for a play date because not all kids use it an may not be respectful of the device.
Thebigtoybook We don’t usually bring iPad/iPhone out for playdates but on bus rides for school trips? Kids love playing them together!
Q4: How do you handle the play date aftermath? Do you give the kids a head’s up that the play date is ending? Any clean-up tactics?
A4CWSN ChorePad APP 4 cleaning up or iReward.
Tracyparral I tell them ahead of time and them ready to clean up.
Bctripletmommy Just give them a countdown; 30 minutes.
Jen276here Clean up, clean up, everybody clean up!
Complicatedmama My 6yr sings it but rarely does it.
Saving4someday My saying: Count down avoids the melt down!
ToyQueen Countdowns or transitional warnings we call them can be great. You can flick the light as a visual reminder.
Q5: How about you as a mom? Do you keep in touch with the moms you met in your child’s early playgroups? Do you need the time during playgroup or play dates to have adult conversation?
Mom4everandever sometimes we make meals together.
VectoringMomma I try but I stay in contact more with all my twitter mommas, hehe!
Beeacutie2 I do we have a month get together, it is amazing!
ToyQueen I think playdates should be about supporting the kids, we can schedule mommy time without them!
Teachwtechbrox I think adult conv is ok as long as the kids needs come first.
xxkimhcxx Yes, adult conversation is always good, I just try not to use the baby words when I’m talking to them.
Q6: Do you encourage new your kid’s friendships or try to nurture old ones?
VectoringMomma Both! I want my little guys to be loyal AND outgoing!
Lilac_the_bunny I think you need to let kids pick their own friends and only step in when they aren’t being nice.
unkatchable73 encourage new friendship and try to nurture the ones they have, some of which might not be easy.
Bostontwinmommy It sounds like a dream to have playmates in the house, but they rarely want to play together nicely.
You can get the full script by going to Twitter and looking at hashtag #RuckusPlayDate.
Do you know any elementary, preschool or reading teachers? Or moms with great practical ideas for helping kids love to read? Or do you, yourself, have awesome tips to share – certain times of the day when you get your kids reading or strategies to inspire their love of reading? We want to feature your tips with our fans!
Have you made screen time a communal experience in your house? If not, you might want to consider making the experience part of your regular family time. Here’s why we think so:
