An Open Letter to the Parents of Kids Who Come to My House for a Play Date

Your child is more than welcome to come to my home for a play date, as long as you adhere to the following Play Date Rules:

• Play dates have an end time.
• When the amount of time from drop-off to pick-up exceeds an 8-hour period, it is no longer a play date. It has now fallen into the realm of babysitting.
     If you must know, babysitting a school-age child can be expensive, like if-you-have-to-ask-you-probably-can't-afford kind of expensive.
     When you fail to pick up your child after 8 hours, I may or may not have  placed a call to Child Services to report an unknown, abandoned, orphan-like child in my home. If it's your child I'm referring to, you might have some 'splainin' to do.
• If your child comes to my home for an excess of 30 play dates per month, I am legally obligated to claim said child as a dependant on my taxes. Yes, it's perfectly legal. Google it.
• If your child eats more meals at my house than yours, I may have to sue you for custody of your child, or at least child support. (Mac and cheese is not cheap, okay it is, but that kid can eat an entire box!)
• If I have to take your child to the store with me, along with my other three kids, and yield questions from nosy shoppers, like: "Are they all yours?" I just might be finishing off a gallon bottle of Lambrusco when you pull up to finally get your kid.
• Don't judge.

Follow the Play Date Rules and no one gets hurt.

Shivaun Williams is a Bucks County, PA writer and mom of three. This post is adapted from her blog, Dar Liomsa (In My Opinion).