Open Door Policy?

DO YOU HAVE AN OPEN DOOR POLICY FOR FRIENDS, OR YOUR CHILDREN’S FRIENDS?

Do I have an open door policy for friends, or my children’s friends?  Absolutely.  Well, figuratively speaking anyways.  Our schedule is so all over the place that you would be disappointed if you showed up on our front step expecting someone to be home.  I’d like to think that my friends know that I am here if they need me and I often think about my kids bringing their friends over when they are older to hang out.  I hope that they would feel comfortable doing that, plus I would know that they are safe.   

My kids are still little so a bit of planning is involved when it comes to hanging out with friends.  Play dates are just that…scheduled dates that work for both parties.  They don’t always happen at home as there are so many options to get out of the house and meet.  This also means there is no obligation to clean for either party.  There is always obligation in my opinion; I might be alone on this one.  We all have our insecurities, and I am embarrassed by our dirty car and sometimes cluttered home.  If you are a close friend, clean means that I have made sure the washroom doesn’t have any surprises and there isn’t so much animal fur that you leave with feet furrier than the pets.  That kind of clean.

Most of my childhood was spent growing up in a small village where there were a handful of farms and as a family we knew a lot of the farm families.  My neighbour’s kids and I would hop on our bikes and visit the farms without warning.  As far as we knew, it was safe and we’d be welcomed with open arms, however, we’d never go into the houses.  We would just muck around the barns and farmyards.  I wouldn’t have dreamt about going in someone’s house without invitation.  Everyone knew everyone so it was widely accepted.  We’d just have to make sure that we were considerate and home before the street lights came on.  Looking back, it was pretty great even though I yearned to live in a city where it seems you could never be bored.  We live in the city now and my kids still seem to have the same struggles with less freedom to run wild. 

Back to the question and after reading what I have wrote, I’ll have to re-submit my answer truthfully as a ‘no’ if we are talking in the literal sense.  I was romanticizing about the Seinfeld vibe when Elaine, George, Kramer and sometimes Newman showed up unannounced at his apartment.  A vibe that just isn’t real being that it is a sitcom from the 90’s.  It’s just not going to happen unless I have scheduled an event where I have decided that for a period of time our doors are open, a.k.a. a PARTY. 

This article is leaving me feeling really uptight!  It is partly that I hate to say no and secondly, I have never quite forgiven the kid that sat on my Barbie corvette in the 80’s and busted the window off.  No consideration or remorse.  That kid was not invited back.  What are your thoughts on this subject?  We’d like to hear!


N

Comments

Popular Posts