We'll Set Aside Some Special Time Next Tuesday. We Require 24 Hours Notice For Canellation or Your Credit Card Will be Charged

As I was passing yet another note scribbled with my contact information on it to another mother so that a play date could be scheduled between our respective kids; it triggered a thought: How did my generation get to be so damned structured? What happened to the days of just going outside to play? And if your friend didn't live close enough to walk then you picked up the phone and said "hey, can I come over and play and oh by the way I need a ride can your mom get me?". And nine times out of ten they did. Or they just came to your house. Just so we're clear, I'm kind of anti-play date. Scheduling play time days or weeks in advance just seems a tad ridiculous. And what of the "exclusive" play date? What do I mean? As a for instance: Let's just say that your next door neighbor has kids that are your kids age and they play together a lot. And your child knocks on their door to see if little Johnny can play, only to be told that little Johnny can't play right now because he's having a play date. Apparently little Johnny is not a multi-play-tasker. Adding one more child to the equation is just too much and would somehow unleash something very damned scary; like an Earth sucking black hole abyss.

After school, when we were kids, we'd drag our friend over to our parent's waiting car and pointedly ask "Can so-n-so come over RIGHT NOW!?" and totally put our parents on the spot. And then run over and check with their mom at their waiting car and let them know, which they were usually fine with and only had one follow up question that was "Will you be eating dinner there, or what?" taking a long drag on her Virginia Slim. That was that. It's how we rolled.

Today, it seems like you have to pass muster in order for someone else's child to be allowed in your home. How many of you have invited one of your child's friends over and were instantly met with the "look" from the other parent. The parent who doesn't know you very well except in passing. The "look" that finally evolves into the uttered phrase "weeeelllll...howz about he/she comes to OUR house?!" and at first you're like "great!" because you're thinking of all the things you can do with your free time while your kids are with someone else until it smacks you in the head that you've just been judged and summarily dismissed. So then you might say something like "Weeellll...that's probably best because now I can tackle cleaning up the meth lab it's getting a little funky".

What was it that brought us to this? Is it the media? Were too many of us latch-key kids? Was it all of those Saturday morning cartoons? Too many Looney Tunes with the smoking, alcohol, ether, and cross dressing that frightened us into over protectiveness and this obsession with schedules? That somehow everything and all things must be planned to the inth degree or else we just can't function? We Gen-Xers are lacking in spontaneity. I'm so bored with me.