Dinner Parties ..... Too Young?

The last two nights, we have had friends over for dinner on a "school night". Las night, Saige, Linden and their mommy came over while we were eating dinner. Fortunately, Collin was hungry enough that he finished eating his dinner before he went to play with them. They had a great time playing in his playroom. I think Collin liked having friends over to play with him once he got over the fact that they were playing with his toys. This took him about 5 minutes to start sharing. When it was time to go, they all ended up in his bed to hide from their mommy. Collin thought this was really funny. Here they are in his bed:

Tonight, Alex, Ellie and their parents came over for dinner and then to play. Alex and Ellie are in Collin's class at school and a year older than him. Trying to get three kids sitting on one side of the table focused enough to eat was a challenge but they all eventually did. The kids then went to play in his playroom while the parents sat in the living room to chat. Every 10 minutes, one of the kids would come out of the playroom to try to tell on one of the other kids. We told them to go back in the playroom and not tattle-tale. This worked until the next time someone came out of the room to tell on someone else. Fortunately, no one got hurt....just hurt feelings and the reason for the tattle-telling. This was mainly from the 4 year olds.....guess this is something we have to look forward to.

Collin was fine when both sets of friends had to leave. With all of the playing and burned energy, I would have thought he would have been tired. He was but was overtired so it took me an extra 30 minutes or so to get him to bed and it was more work because he was really grouchy. That's not easy to deal with as a tired parent...but it's pat of being a parent. I would not change a thing.