Play dates

I finally can listen to Chicago Public Radio at the centro with our new turbonet!!! So I was listening just now to The Story, and they were interviewing a stay at home dad. The interview accentuated for me cultural differences in child raising between Nicaragua and the states. First, the phenomenon of stay at home dad. I would say that more common here is the stay at home grandpa. Even unemployed dads, like the dad in the story, usually find somewhere to be besides the house taking care of kids all day, even if it means hanging out with buddies at the local convenience store. Also, the dad in the story mentioned setting up play dates. The play date I think is a unique north american phenomenon. Here, kids are always on play dates. They play in the streets together all the time, play in the house with their cousins or neighbors, play soccer on the basketball court... There is no need to set up a date because there are always friends nearby. Another example of how in Nicaragua, it's really the whole community that raises the kids, as opposed to the states where kids are isolated in their houses much of the time and have to arrange special times to play with their friends.