Playdates?

When I was a kid, when we wanted to see if a friend could come out and play, we'd take our little self over to the friend's house, whether on foot, by bike, or some other means of self-sufficient transportation. Once we arrived there, we had two options to summon the friend: ring the doorbell, or knock on the door. If said friend was home and able to come out, he or she would open their door, step through it out onto the porch, and the playtime would commence. If the friend was not able to come out and play (due to it being meal time, or chores had yet to be completed), he or she would say so, and close the door. Then, we would get our self back to our home by the same means of transportation, or we'd repeat the same process at the home of another friend; repeating it over and over until someone could come out and play. Most kids had the rule to either check in every hour or so by either a phone call (no pulling out a cell phone and texting Mom or Dad your status), or be home by the time the first streetlight came on. Our neighbor down the street, Mr. Reyes, would call his sons home by standing outside in his front yard, and whistling a very loud and distinct whistle which could be heard for blocks. By default we used that whistle as our call to come home. For the most part, it worked quite well.

Nowadays parents must make "play dates" on behalf of their kids. Typically, this involves the offhand comment while waiting for our kids at their school that we "should schedule a play date". This is followed by the deploying of iPhones or other electronic organizers to check the daily schedules of our kids.

"Monday? Nope...piano lessons."
"Tuesday?...no can do...dance class."
"Can't do Wednesday because it's swim lessons."
"Let's try for Friday."
"OK...hmmm...looks clear...shall we do it at your house or mine?"
"Ah...we can do it at mine."
"Cool. Want me to drop off, or will you take home from school."
"I can drive home, and when we're done I can bring him/her back."
"Well, we have Tai Kwon Do so I will pick up so he/she can change in the car on the way to the class."
"Sounds great...Friday it is." Does he/she need a car booster seat?"
"Nope...seat belt is fine".
"Cool"....

So the appointed day arrives, and all kids are picked up and brought to the house for the "play date". What's the first thing the kids want to do?

Spread out to separate computers and play on-line games with each other.

*sigh*....

Oh, for the good ol' days, when we rode bikes without helmets, rode in cars without wearing seatbelts, rode in the beds of pick-up trucks, and could actually play outside by ourselves, without needing to be supervised by an adult.

I wonder what would happen if my kids went over to a friend's house and knocked on the door...