We usually let our kids take a friend along(carnival, movies, park). I like taking other kids when they get along with mine and it adds to the fun. We treat because we sometimes eat when we are out and we don't mind at all. We try to invite different kids, especially those who dont' get to do very much. We seem to be the exception though. My children rarely get invited out. I like having them with me since I don't know very many parents. Do you let kids come along?
My bff and I are usually together at these activities but she is better off financially and is often inviting my grand daughter to attend stuff where I am unable to invite due to finances.
Yes, even though I have 2 girls, 8 and 11, I do often allow them to each invite one friend along with us to the pool, the zoo, etc. We just did this, took each kid plus their one friend to the corn maze yesterday. It was a lot of fun! It's especially becoming more important for my older daughter to get out with her friends and have something fun to do, rather than just hang around the house. We'll encourage them to branch out and remember old friends and new, neighbor friends and school friends, so they aren't always inviting the same person. We'll find some friends invite our kids out too, and some not so much. That's OK. We just encourage the girls to keep their circle of friends wide, and remember to return the favor to those who've invited them either over to play at their house, and/or out to fun places.
Yes, we did and still do.. Our daughter is 20.
We also allowed our daughter to go along with other families, if she wanted to go..
Seems strange to take other peoples kids, but then not trust them to take our daughter..
Many times, we also invited others to meet us places.. We even went on a overnight with another family and had a blast!
Sometimes we paid, and many times, the parents would insist that they would still send their child with money.. We have great memories.. Now that our daughter is in college, we still invite her friends to join us when she is in town.. We love keeping up with her friends and their families.
Our daughter is 3 and an only child, so I can see doing this when she is older and maybe wants a special friend to tag along to a movie, etc. It would be easier for us because we only have her, not 2,3, or 4 kids that maybe want all bring friends. Perhaps these other families have multiple kids and feel like it's not fair to allow one to bring a friend, and not the others. Or they just can't afford the extra expense, or they don't have the room in their car. If they sometimes provide money for their child to cover their expenses, or at least say thank you and show their appreciation, that might have to be good enough.
All the time. We have an only child and we always take a friend (our expense) along on the trip.
Daughter is almost 16 now and has a group of close friends. We've always taken 1-3 friends along to the fair, movies, etc. our expense...I never expect them to pay.
Sometimes we invite friends, sometimes we just want family time. Sometimes, I just can't aford the additional expense. I make sure on the rare occassions when my children are invited to go somewhere, that they have money to pay their way, but the other parents will usually pick up the tab.
Yeah, I always took other kids too, it never bothered me that no one took mine anywhere, I wouldnt have been comfortable with it anyway. It's perfectly normal to take other kids and it is fun to talk to them. I had two little boys but the neighbor girl who was a couple of years older than them still played with them and she liked to hang around and talk to me. I'd have her on a chair helping me peel potatoes while her brother was playing in the house with the boys. I took her everywhere with us, she was my little buddy. Her mom had a baby and a toddler so she was happy to have her daughter entertained. It's always fun for the kids to have their friends with them at the park or McDonalds playland and stuff. And they are more entertaining to watch from a bench too. If I didnt take neighborhood kids I was the one sitting under the jungle gym in the sand with a bag full of plastic dinosaurs to line up for battle.
No, we don't invite other kids to come along with us.
We don't because that's our family time together.
We love to eat out, play, have fun, be silly, buy gifts/toys and take pictures and we cherish our family time together.
We all are different and you do what you and your family enjoys most.
= )
didn't even read the other responses! YES, we do take extra kids! It makes it fun for everyone involved.....the exception would be for family holiday parties. But for everything else, sometimes it's cousins, sometimes it's friends.
What drives me nuts is that we always think of sharing the fun with extra kids.....& my sister never does. It's soooo one-sided, but we still do it.....because it makes the rest of us happy! !!
I've wondered if we'll do this when my boys are older. Since they are fairly close in age -2 years apart -I've thought we probably won't, but it depends on the activity. Movies-sure, maybe something like Six Flags once in awhile or a water park. I am an only child, and my parents always let me bring a friend everywhere -amusement parks, beach vacations, you name it, because they wanted me to have someone my own age to be with. I think a lot of people don't do it though if there are siblings (especially same sex sibs or ones who really get along) because their kids have someone then, and it costs a lot to do stuff these days. Most people I know, even those who are fairly well off, are cutting corners economically.
It depends. We live a long drive from our kids' schools, and their classmates live a long way also. (20-30 minute drive depending on which kid-- we live in a rural area between two towns). I have noticed that lots of families with an only child will bring other children along with them to things (trips, fairs, movies, etc).. We have 2 kids.. and only room for 3 in the car... so that means that only one kid can bring a friend at a time and then there are 3 kids, which can mean that one of ours gets "left out".... 3 is a crowd, and all that.
Also, several families that we feel comfortable enough to do that sort of thing, have multiple kids as well (one family has 5 kids). We can't take them all, even though they are all friends with our kids... it's not really fair to pick one kid... feelings get hurt.
We will often have a child come along for a birthday thing (water park or movies, whathaveyou)...
If I had a bigger vehicle (3rd row seating) it would make it easier.
