Somedays I feel like the ringmaster in a very large circus - Cirque du Mommy! And today I am the ringmaster in the Carnival of Red Hot Bloggers. Our topic for the week is "Tales from the Playdate Files," so give me your best and your worst or just walk that tightrope and let’s see what we get.

I have three kids and live on a street with no other kids, so playdates and sports are the only way my kids get to see their friends. Personally, I don’t mind being the playdate hostess - it gives me an opportunity to really see how my kids’ friends are and how they all interact.

My youngest is 5 and goes to school in the afternoons. She has a friend that comes over some mornings and usually they play really well. This week my daughter was having real issues with interaction and I felt bad for her friend. All Miss N wanted to do was dance to music but wanted her friend to just sit and watch. How rude! Her poor friend just sat there and finally I couldn’t take it anymore and had to intervene. Would you have done the same?

This afternoon should also be interesting. The older two each have a friend coming over and the youngest doesn’t. I feel bad for her, but part of being a sibling is learning that life isn’t always fair. Hopefully the big kids will do a good job of including her or else I will be stuck playing infinite rounds of Littlest Pet Shop Game game with her.

Enough of my ramblings! What are your experiences with kids and playdates?

• Angela at Oh, Baby Baby questions the need for formal playdates and gives us her reasons. Afterall, isn’t going to the park considered a playdate, too?
• Babytalkers is lucky enough that she can still pick her child’s friends and so far so good. She even confesses that playdates are as much for her as they are for her child.
• Gayla at MomGadget has got her boys trained - they now pick the friends who come over based on their ability to follow house rules.
• Doris at Home Office Women has learned that playdates can be a good way to observe "the other side" of your child’s personality as he develops his interaction skills.

Want to part of our carnival today? Leave me a comment with a link to your post and you are in! Feeling stressed about meeting a deadline? There is none. If you put together a post today or next week, I’ll still add it.

Tags: carnival, Red Hot Bloggers, playdates, kids, littlest pet shop, oh baby baby