Making Play Dates

Invite her school friends for playdates, not your work friends. The idea is to cultivate friendships with the kids she will be going to school with for the next several years. Ask your daughter who her friends are at school, or who she would like to invite for a playdate. If her school doesn't have a phone directory, get your daughter to exchange phone numbers with her friends. Call the mom and ask if they would like to meet you at McDonalds or something for a couple of hours to play.

Make play date plans with her peers, not yours. Meaning that although your coworkers may have the kids the same age, other than that, you child and their children have nothing in common. Instead, pursue getting her together with other kids from school - if you don't have contact info for the other parents and don't see them at drop-off/pick-up for long enough to have a conversation, give a note to the teacher with your contact info for her to give to the parent of a classmate your daughter would like to play with.

FWIW, I never did play dates with my oldest son until he was maybe in 2nd grade. As a working parent, I was far too busy to try to also build in a social life for him outside of daycare, school, after-school programs and sports and viewed invitations to get together on a weekend as a hassle. My youngest child is much more social and proactive and when he was in a half-day preschool and I was working from home, he took the initiative of setting up play dates with his friends from pre-school almost every day. He would broach the topic with the friend, mention it to the friend's parent at pick up and make sure that the parent and I connected to exchange numbers and set a date. It was a very effective strategy for him!

You'll have better luck trying to make play dates with her friends from school than with the people you work with. A lot of people want to keep work separate from their home life and may not be as eager to socialize with coworkers. Talk to the preschool moms and they will be more likely to want to come over or meet up somewhere.

Also, look into sites like meetup.com and try to find some groups in your area that match your needs. There are moms groups, including some that have specific age ranges for their kids. I'm sure you'll find something nearby.

You can also see if there is a MOMS Club chapter in your area. www.momsclub.org

At age 5, my kids did a lot of play dates at parks or indoor play areas when I didn't have time or energy to invite people to our house. I focused on the kids and invited kids over who my kids bonded with at school or activities. Once you invite them over or to meet somewhere, the other family will probably reciprocate and invite your child to a play date too.

I think that since teachers are around kids all day they'd rather not spend their home-time with more kids.

I didn't have a lot of parent-friends until after my oldest started preschool. Once they are in school, they make friends and then you will make friends with some of their parents. You have to be open to meeting them too, so introduce yourself to some of the soccer parents. They probably can commiserate or give advice about your child's anxiety over the class.

Hope second class goes well!

Before school I met play date friends through the public library. Ours has a lot of kiddie programs. Many of us would go out to McDonald's or the park afterwards and cultivated friendships.

I have also met people through activities, and park district programs. Sometimes we would meet at Mcdonalds or a park until I got to know them better. Then we would meet regularly rotating houses.

Other moms I know would connect with the local MOPS ( moms of PreSchoolers). There also is a local moms club in the next town (momsclubnewlenox) that organizes outings for moms, but you meet a lot of moms.

If she is meeting friends through school start there! Have her point out her friends at pickup/drop off and approach the parent to see if they want to meet.

I agree with the others that mixing work with play dates should be avoided.

Good luck!