How to Help Kids Build Social Skills Through Successful Play Dates With Maria Hammond, Ph.D.
Helping Kids Navigate Play Dates Without the Stress
Play dates are supposed to be fun, but for many parents, play dates are stressful. You worry about how your child will behave, whether they will connect with the other kids, and whether the experience will go smoothly for everyone involved. I hear this concern constantly in my clinical work, and I feel it myself as a parent.
In this episode of the Educated Parent Podcast, I sat down with Maria Hammond, Ph.D., to talk about how parents can help their kids build social skills through successful play without putting so much pressure on themselves or their children. This conversation is about making play dates feel more manageable, more supportive, and more positive for everyone.
Why Play Dates Feel So Stressful for Parents
For many families, play dates are stressful because they feel like a performance. Parents worry their child will struggle socially, have a meltdown, or do something embarrassing. At the same time, parents often feel judged, both by others and by themselves.
What makes this even harder is that play dates are one of the primary ways kids build social skills. When play feels tense or overwhelming, it can prevent kids from fully engaging in successful play and learning how to navigate friendships in a healthy way.
A Child Development Perspective on Successful Play
According to Maria Hammond, Ph.D., successful play does not mean perfection. Successful play is about comfort, connection, and repair. Kids do not need to play flawlessly to benefit from a play date. They need opportunities to practice social interactions in ways that feel safe and supported.
When we think about play dates as skill-building opportunities rather than tests, it becomes easier to help kids build social skills without escalating our own anxiety. This mindset shift alone can reduce why play dates are stressful for so many parents.
Strategy One: Prepare Kids Before the Play Date
One of the most important ways to support successful play is preparation. Maria Hammond, Ph.D., recommends “front-loading” play dates by talking through what the experience might be like ahead of time.
Preparing kids for play dates helps them anticipate what might happen, which reduces anxiety and supports their ability to build social skills. When kids know what to expect, they are less likely to feel overwhelmed, which makes successful play more likely.
Strategy Two: Give Kids a Social Mission
Another powerful tool Maria Hammond, Ph.D., shared is giving kids a simple “mission” before a play date. This could be something small, like asking another child what they like to play or showing a friend a favorite toy.
Having a mission helps kids focus on connection instead of worry. This strategy makes play dates less stressful and supports kids as they build social skills in a natural and manageable way. When kids walk into a play date with a purpose, successful play becomes more achievable.
Strategy Three: Leave While the Play Date Is Going Well
One of the hardest but most effective strategies is knowing when to leave. Maria Hammond, Ph.D., emphasizes that successful play often means ending the play date on a positive note, even if things are going well.
Staying too long can lead to overstimulation, conflict, or emotional overload, which is one reason play dates are stressful for families. Leaving while things are still positive helps kids associate play dates with success and comfort, making it easier for them to build social skills over time.
Redefining What Successful Play Really Means
Successful play is not about kids always getting along, never arguing, or behaving perfectly. Successful play means kids feel safe enough to engage, make mistakes, and recover.
When parents redefine successful play, play dates become less stressful and more productive. Kids gain real opportunities to build social skills, and parents can relax knowing that learning happens through experience, not perfection.
A Final Reframe for Parents
If play dates are stressful for you, I want you to hear this clearly. You are not doing anything wrong. Social skills develop over time, with practice, support, and patience.
With thoughtful preparation, realistic expectations, and guidance from experts like Maria Hammond, Ph.D., play dates can become meaningful opportunities for kids to build social skills through successful play. You do not need to eliminate stress entirely. You just need to make play dates feel safe enough for learning and connection to happen.
You are doing better than you think, and your child is learning more than you realize.
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[00:00:00] Leah Clionsky: Welcome to the Educated Parent Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Leah Clionsky, and I am of course, thrilled about this topic because the topic we're gonna discuss today applies to almost anyone with a young child. Imagine you want to take your child on a play date, but you're worried. How will it go? How can you make it go?
[00:00:22] Leah Clionsky: Smoothly so that it's a positive experience for everyone including you. So that's what we're going to talk about today. So I have with me Dr. Maria Hammond, and she has focused her training, research, and clinical practice. On the areas of communication delay, developmental differences in parent-child relationships.
[00:00:42] Leah Clionsky: And in her practice they run these amazing social skills groups where they help young kids learn how to connect with each other. And so that's why I have her to help all of us make our play dates even better. And thank you so much for coming on.
[00:00:56] Maria V. Hammond: Oh, thank you for having us and be, thank you.
[00:00:59] Leah Clionsky: No, I'm so happy you're here. I know you and I have been chatting about. How stressful it can be for parents when they take their child on a play date and they're not sure how everyone will react to it.
[00:01:11] Maria V. Hammond: Yeah. I think, uh, parents feel like they're sort of being watched and hope their children perform well, and strategies that take that off the table can be really helpful.
[00:01:22] Leah Clionsky: Yeah, it's hard to be a parent. There's so much judgment, like real judgment because of like social media and people posting things, and then those like ideas of like who you think you should be as a parent, and that self-judgment is so painful.
[00:01:39] Maria V. Hammond: Agreed. Agreed. And I see children doing the same thing. So I think things that help you sort of get outta your head and be in the moment can be really, really helpful for both parties and it should be fun. Should be fun.
[00:01:51] Leah Clionsky: I know, um, selfishly when I bring my four and 6-year-old on a play date, part of what I'm hoping, like I want them to have fun, obviously, and I want them to have pos like positive social interactions because that's good for them in their development. But really I want things to go so smoothly that I can hang out and get some adult time without feeling like I have to be in the middle, refereeing how things are going.
[00:02:17] Leah Clionsky: And so like it's a benefit to me as well. If they can be in that situation and I set them up well enough where I know it will go pretty smoothly.
[00:02:26] Maria V. Hammond: Yes. Beautiful. So you get a play date a little bit as well?
[00:02:29] Leah Clionsky: Yes. I mean that's the nice thing about, it's like if you have friends or you're trying to make friends with other parents and you have kids of similar ages, like you ideally want them to be able to hang out enough with each other where you can, you know, be there, but also like be enjoying the friend side as an adult.
[00:02:50] Leah Clionsky: Yeah.
[00:02:50] Maria V. Hammond: Absolutely. And it's a journey, isn't it? It takes some practice as all new relationships do, so, yeah. Agreed. Yeah.
[00:02:58] Leah Clionsky: Do you find more of these struggles? Do you with play dates, do they happen more with kids who are in like a daycare or school setting or kids who, I mean, maybe have had some negative interactions or kids who are, you know, maybe home or only very rarely in
[00:03:13] Maria V. Hammond: Mm
[00:03:13] Leah Clionsky: and they're kind of
[00:03:14] Maria V. Hammond: mm
[00:03:15] Leah Clionsky: how do I be in this situation?
[00:03:17] Leah Clionsky: Like where are
[00:03:17] Maria V. Hammond: Yes. What a brilliant question. The children that are home, most probably un and understandably, there's no right or wrong, have trouble on play dates because they're a little bit less used to unexpected circumstances. You know, if you're staying for aftercare, um, go to school full-time, you're more used to that.
[00:03:42] Maria V. Hammond: Um. On the flip side, those little bit Shire kids or kids that are working on social skills also have a really beautiful intuition. They, they gauge well, they're just not as practiced. So it's almost like being an athlete to practice your social skills and that's kind of the basis of group. Great question.
[00:04:00] Leah Clionsky: Oh, that's so interesting. So it's, they're there, they have the intuition, they just don't know.
[00:04:05] Maria V. Hammond: Yes.
[00:04:05] Leah Clionsky: to necessarily Jo, like jump in and if the other child does something unexpected, they feel kind of thrown off by
[00:04:13] Maria V. Hammond: Yes, they feel a little thrown. Those are the kiddos that might walk into a play date, but stay behind someone's leg. Boy, do they wanna rush in, but they're just not sure how so? Yeah.
[00:04:24] Leah Clionsky: I have, um, two children who are just very different from each other. Like my daughter, my 6-year-old is an extrovert. She would be on a play date all day all the time if I let her be. But my son is more of an introvert, and so sometimes I think he gets overstimulated after being in school all week.
[00:04:42] Leah Clionsky: And then on the weekend he like wants a little bit less engagement. It's interesting too. He needs like a little more encouragement to get out there. He might like leave and seek adult attention
[00:04:54] Maria V. Hammond: mm.
[00:04:55] Leah Clionsky: a while. His, he's just wired a little differently than she is in those situations.
[00:05:00] Maria V. Hammond: his bucket sort of filled by some alone time before he can go back out? Yeah.
[00:05:05] Leah Clionsky: And then I think he's most comfortable with his sister and that can cause conflict. 'cause he wants her attention and she wants to play with all the new kids who are around.
[00:05:13] Maria V. Hammond: That's such an interesting point about siblings. Um, having a sibling go with you can be about a plus and a minus, but I think for some kids it really is a great way to begin. So, yeah.
[00:05:27] Leah Clionsky: Yeah. Do, do you feel like it depends a lot on the activity? If it's, and if it's more like freeform, you know, like, oh, we're meeting at the playground, versus if it's more guided, like we're all doing soccer shots together. Like, do you see differences?
[00:05:43] Maria V. Hammond: Yes. And, um, such great questions. The more organized activities, I think are easier because children don't have to spend time pre worrying planning about what to do. There's less that's unexpected, but outside. Tends to be, I think, easier than inside. And I think that's because maybe it's a bit quieter.
[00:06:03] Maria V. Hammond: Kids feel more free. So, um, I think environment really does matter and organized versus unorganized. Uh, the not organized play dates tend to be the toughest for kiddos in a new home that's not their own. I would say that's the a number one toughest type of new play date. Yeah.
[00:06:22] Leah Clionsky: Yeah. I would also imagine though, it's almost like the skill they need the most.
[00:06:26] Maria V. Hammond: agreed.
[00:06:27] Leah Clionsky: Like it's the hardest, but like, what do you really need to know? You need to know how to play with other kids without adults directing you. And isn't that the generational divide everyone talks about? You know, we used to have a lot more like independent kind of figure it out.
[00:06:42] Leah Clionsky: Not necessarily in the, like you better figure it out on your own. But like that there was more like you kind of had to navigate your own dynamics more than right now.
[00:06:49] Maria V. Hammond: I agree, you had more time to make mistakes, sort of solve it, reset all on your own. So you kind of own those accomplishments. So yeah, I, I think that is what they need to work on and they just don't have as much of an opportunity. So,
[00:07:04] Leah Clionsky: W what are the hallmarks in your mind of like a really good play date? So when, when it goes well, like what has happened in your opinion?
[00:07:13] Maria V. Hammond: yeah, I think, um. A child can say back to a parent that they had a pretty great time. They may talk about one or two things that felt hard, but overall they, we always do this in playgroup. How are you rating it? It's a thumbs up or close to a thumbs up. Um, I think that the child tells the parent I sure would like to go back.
[00:07:37] Maria V. Hammond: That felt comfortable and the parent has the same impression and has had fun too. So I think we base a lot of. Sort of checking in about how things went on, what kids and families remember later, that perception. So I think that, that, that's when we think that it goes well. When it doesn't go well is when a child's pretty reticent to talk about what happened.
[00:07:59] Maria V. Hammond: Um, tries to leave without kind of saying goodbye, maybe sort of sneaks out, well, this may sound counterintuitive. If a child doesn't wanna leave a play date even gets a little upset. That's probably on the plus side. So just a lot of comfort in wanting to do it again. Yeah.
[00:08:17] Leah Clionsky: That's interesting. When you mentioned that the parent and the child would both agree that it went well, have there been times where a child like thumbs up and the parent is watching and they're like, they fought the whole time. This was not good.
[00:08:29] Maria V. Hammond: yes, yes. And you know, we work with a range of kiddos and the kiddos who are less socially aware, and that's why they're with us, may perceive because they ran an entire play. Based on their idea that it went really well. 'cause they were kind of the mayor of the play date. And a parent might think, oh my goodness, you didn't do anything as a guest that the host wanted.
[00:08:48] Maria V. Hammond: So I think making sure that perception is consistent is important and, and everyone can learn from it by sort of matching that.
[00:08:57] Leah Clionsky: Yeah. That's so interesting that like there can be. A difference in the opinion and the perception of how it went overall. And I wonder as you're saying that too, if there's ever a situation where it actually went fine and the parent is just so anxious that when their child didn't do it perfectly in their mind, then they think it went poorly and the child
[00:09:16] Maria V. Hammond: yeah. Yes. Again, such a brilliant question. You know, anxiety leads to kind of distorting our reality. Understandably. You're so kind of focused on yourself. So, um, sometimes when that happens, we like to have a parent sort of break it down. And see all the pluses, and sometimes we can kind of rewrite that narrative a little bit.
[00:09:35] Maria V. Hammond: So, yes. Yes.
[00:09:37] Leah Clionsky: I mean, I notice when I like as a clinician, but also as a parent on play dates, especially with kids, my kids know well. There's more, a little more of a sibling dynamic. So there tend to be times where they get along very well and then
[00:09:48] Maria V. Hammond: Yeah.
[00:09:49] Leah Clionsky: where there's like some conflict 'cause they're comfortable with each other and then it gets resolved.
[00:09:53] Leah Clionsky: So there's sort of like highs and
[00:09:55] Maria V. Hammond: Yeah.
[00:09:56] Leah Clionsky: especially if it becomes extended, you know, if we end up like hanging out for longer, it turns into like a dinner sort of situation.
[00:10:03] Maria V. Hammond: mm-hmm. Yeah, I think that sibling dynamic, um, friends that, kids that would put their friends in their family bubble, that definitely can happen. And we noticed a uptick in that dynamic during CID because kids were in such tight pods, and I think that's, we're still seeing effects of, of COVID and, um, those kind of relationships.
[00:10:26] Maria V. Hammond: Um, so yeah. Yeah, I agree.
[00:10:28] Leah Clionsky: that is so interesting 'cause it's true that a lot of kids were home or not, you know, interacting the same way for a period of time
[00:10:37] Maria V. Hammond: Mm-hmm.
[00:10:38] Leah Clionsky: it, it happened right at such key moments in development for so many children.
[00:10:42] Maria V. Hammond: Absolutely. And if you are between zero and six or seven, which is our age range, you grew up experiencing that. So sometimes we see kiddos and we're just doing some work because of that. You know, experience they had in COVID, so,
[00:10:59] Leah Clionsky: Yeah, I remember that time I remember, 'cause my daughter was 10 months old when COVID started, and I remember going on walks, seeing other kids like from a distance. And I would have to keep her from interacting
[00:11:14] Maria V. Hammond: Mm mm
[00:11:15] Leah Clionsky: And I felt like, ugh, I'm doing the wrong thing. Yeah. I'm teaching you to be afraid of social interaction when, when I want, it's for you to have it.
[00:11:24] Leah Clionsky: I mean, luckily her temperament is very extroverted, so it didn't affect her. But I remember thinking, this is the opposite of the lesson I would normally teach
[00:11:32] Maria V. Hammond: Yeah, you're, I'm, I'm pulling you back from an initiation. You know, I'm sorta Yeah. Sending that weird mixed me, which was necessary. Which was necessary. So I totally agree. And some kids, uh, got stuck in that and it's been hard to undo it as they entered school.
[00:11:49] Leah Clionsky: Right.
[00:11:50] Maria V. Hammond: For it to feel safe, right? 'cause those things were happening before they were even verbal.
[00:11:54] Maria V. Hammond: So yeah. Good point. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Good point. Yeah. Great point.
[00:12:02] Leah Clionsky: Well I am very excited for you to tell us how to make play dates go well, especially if we're, if we're anxious about them, what are some strategies we can
[00:12:11] Maria V. Hammond: yeah.
[00:12:12] Leah Clionsky: make the chances higher that it will be successful?
[00:12:14] Maria V. Hammond: Yes, yes. So the first is planning. We call that front loading, and we often go through sort of the five senses, thinking about mindfulness, like how might a play date, sound, smell? Will there be a lot of kids or a few kids? Will we eat or not eat? Will there be a birthday song or not a birthday song? Uh, is it gonna be outside or inside?
[00:12:38] Maria V. Hammond: So we go through all of that often with a child and a parent, and they make a plan about those different things. Um, things that often come up, are birthday parties and songs eating and are you gonna make me do those activities if I don't want to? So, um. All kind. We do this for trips as well. So all kinds of things start to come out when you really break down what the experience might literally feel like to a child as if they were in a, a movie scene.
[00:13:10] Maria V. Hammond: We often ask parents to think like a director. Um, so front loading is the first plan.
[00:13:15] Leah Clionsky: I love that. I love that you're breaking it down even to that experiential level.
[00:13:23] Maria V. Hammond: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:24] Leah Clionsky: Because so much distress for humans, but particularly, particularly, can't say that today, edit this particularly for children, um, has to do with times when they have an expectation that is different than reality. I have an episode that is all about that because it is so challenging, but this is very clearly like, let's align your
[00:13:48] Maria V. Hammond: Mm mm.
[00:13:50] Leah Clionsky: With reality because that is going to make things go more smoothly if you walk in knowing what probably will happen.
[00:13:58] Maria V. Hammond: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:58] Leah Clionsky: think at birthday parties, what are, what are children afraid will happen or, or think might happen? And it could be wrong. Maybe they'll think that they're going to get the presents, and then when the birthday child gets the presence, they're upset.
[00:14:12] Maria V. Hammond: Bingo. We did this yesterday with a little boy for his party, a very young child, and our wishes. We do this, we draw most everything out. Had hearts. Our wishlist was a heart and our reality list were stars. And he said, um, his mother had said, we are not going to have gifts at the party. I know some folks will bring them for you, but we put on there, don't feel like you have to bring them to be gracious.
[00:14:34] Maria V. Hammond: And he said, I thought I would get about a hundred gifts. I thought everyone would give me one. And all of our eyes were so big and he got teary eyed in. We said, so that was your expectation, that was your wish. So clearing that up before walking in was massive. He didn't want a song that's typical at a birthday party.
[00:14:53] Maria V. Hammond: And then he thought his mother had invited friends that weren't invited. So he would've thought them not showing up was because they didn't like him. And actually it wasn't personal at all. So there were so many misconceptions and we just tried to straighten it out, uh, before the birthday's next week.
[00:15:10] Maria V. Hammond: So.
[00:15:11] Leah Clionsky: That's so interesting. I think
[00:15:12] Maria V. Hammond: Mm.
[00:15:13] Leah Clionsky: many times where a parent and a child's perception or expectation is misaligned at the beginning and it causes unnecessary problems, but at a play date, this is especially key. So I,
[00:15:26] Maria V. Hammond: key.
[00:15:27] Leah Clionsky: I love this step. Okay. Tell me your second strategy.
[00:15:30] Maria V. Hammond: Uh, yes. Our second strategy is Initiate with a Mission.
[00:15:34] Leah Clionsky: Mm-hmm.
[00:15:35] Maria V. Hammond: Go into a play date with the mission. So, you know, for the parent they often bring, you know, a little sassy or some flowers or a little something sweet to who the host is. And we like for children, especially shy kids, to do that as well. So maybe they bring a little friendship bracelet that we make a playgroup, or they walk in with a cognitive mission like the holidays were just completed.
[00:15:58] Maria V. Hammond: I'm supposed to ask, my mom said I need to ask three friends where they went on holiday. And then tell her about it, or bring a game and teach the kids. If a child walks in with a mission, they're thinking about the mission and not their worry, and all of a sudden they're having a great time, they forget to check back in with a parent.
[00:16:20] Maria V. Hammond: But if they needed to, it's planned. They have a goal when they walk in the door so they can we, we can avoid mostly that situation of a little hanging onto it. A mom's leg or waist and a mom sort of feeling embarrassing or a dad or any caregiver and saying, come on, you'll have a good time. 'cause that's not really the moment to do that work.
[00:16:41] Maria V. Hammond: So we like to plan a mission. And children really like this step.
[00:16:47] Leah Clionsky: No, I love it. It sounds like it meets the goal of giving a child some, like some control.
[00:16:54] Maria V. Hammond: Some agency.
[00:16:55] Leah Clionsky: Yeah, they go in, they have the mission, they're like, I know what I am supposed to do here. And that's, it's almost like when adults have trouble initiating contact and they need some sort of icebreaker question or they need some sort of like social scaffolding into this situation.
[00:17:13] Leah Clionsky: You know, where it's like, okay, you know, just go and ask people this question and it will help get you in. I love that it's set up and I love that you call it a mission. I think that's
[00:17:21] Maria V. Hammond: Yeah. It's fun. You know, everybody loves mission to scavenger hunt, um, something like that. So that's been really helpful. And the children tell us what they'd like to do, so. Most playgroups if play dates are coming up, we make a little plan or make a crap. We do whatever they want. Sometimes it's just a little note and sometimes they don't need it.
[00:17:40] Maria V. Hammond: That's the beauty of this strategy. You have it in your back pocket as a parachute plan if you need it, so, but it's about changing cognition instead of sort of sitting in your emotions in a rough moment.
[00:17:52] Leah Clionsky: Yeah, that's great. Okay, tell me the third one. I'm so excited.
[00:17:56] Maria V. Hammond: And the third one is, uh, leave while it's going well. So I, you know, it's pretty simple.
[00:18:03] Maria V. Hammond: Um, we like to suggest parents try to set a time limit for a play date. You can negotiate it making longer, but know there's a moment you'll leave if a parent sees that it's not going well or a child tells a parent. I'm feeling stressed or they sort of walk, do the wander away into the other room thing.
[00:18:23] Maria V. Hammond: It's a good moment to check in and maybe you cut it short. Better to leave with the child wanting to come back than saying, we said we'd stay two hours and it's falling apart. That's a hard redo. That's an embarrassing memory for a child and and parent. So leave while it's going well. Um, when you're front loading, if you have like a code word with your child or a parachute plan to check in, at a certain point you can sort of gauge like, are we in a green moment, a yellow moment or a red moment?
[00:18:55] Maria V. Hammond: So if you need to leave sooner, you can. Um, and it's not embarrassing. So leaving while it's going well is, is a good one. It's tricky, but it's a good one. Yeah.
[00:19:04] Leah Clionsky: Well that makes sense. I think when things are going well sometimes then like we just try to stay longer and longer 'cause it's fun and
[00:19:12] Maria V. Hammond: yeah,
[00:19:13] Leah Clionsky: People start like decompensating and then you leave then, and that's what they remember. I think that's like hard in general for humans. We're we're like enjoying something and you're like, how long can I stretch this out?
[00:19:25] Leah Clionsky: And sometimes you just need to end it
[00:19:27] Maria V. Hammond: Yep.
[00:19:27] Leah Clionsky: on a positive note before everyone gets overwhelmed. Before everyone gets hungry, before it
[00:19:33] Maria V. Hammond: A hundred percent. Yeah. Before it is too hard to redo. When we're making plans with kids, we often say, what would you like to remember from your first play date at your new school? Oh, I wanna remember I made one friend. So in the spirit of that, we plan backwards and often it's about the length of the play date.
[00:19:53] Maria V. Hammond: So yeah,
[00:19:56] Leah Clionsky: Yeah, and it's like knowing when to quit, and there's so much of that. I think about that in restaurants too. I'm like, all right, everything's going well. Please bring us the check. Let's not wait. Right until we've been like spinning around.
[00:20:08] Maria V. Hammond: a hundred percent Yeah, I agree with you. Yeah. So, and sometimes you can't, but, um, there's always another chance that's important to think about. Yeah. This is a skill. This is a skill, and you develop comfort and ease and fluidness and spontaneity.
[00:20:25] Maria V. Hammond: And sometimes it's a redo and sometimes it's not, but there's almost always another chance if it. If it's too, if it's rough, so
[00:20:32] Leah Clionsky: Yeah, and it can be rough because of not your child. It can be rough 'cause that other kid is having a
[00:20:38] Maria V. Hammond: yes, yes.
[00:20:40] Leah Clionsky: a different expectation because. That other parent is having a rough day. Like it can be rough for reasons that have nothing to do with anything that your child is doing or that you are doing
[00:20:50] Maria V. Hammond: mm Really good. Point, probably a whole nother great talk. You know, things are usually not personal, but they certainly feel that way when we're worried. So, um, yes. And those are things we don't have control over. So even teaching littles, like do you have control over that or do you not?
[00:21:08] Maria V. Hammond: Is really good lesson. And when you review a play date, you can almost say, so did you have control over what toy came first? So things like that. Um. There's good learning stuff that happens after a play date too for adults and kids when, as you review it, so, yeah.
[00:21:23] Leah Clionsky: Yeah, I love this. I think this is so helpful. I think even if play dates are going well,
[00:21:29] Maria V. Hammond: Mm
[00:21:30] Leah Clionsky: thinking about, you know, if, if there's anything coming up, thinking
[00:21:33] Maria V. Hammond: mm
[00:21:33] Leah Clionsky: you can smooth it, just the expectation management piece is so key.
[00:21:38] Maria V. Hammond: Is so key.
[00:21:39] Leah Clionsky: So Maria, I know people are gonna wanna find your practice. Tell everyone how to find you for your amazing social skills work.
[00:21:45] Maria V. Hammond: Hugh, you are amazing. Thanks. Thank you for that. Uh, we're Nest Developmental Center, our website's Nest developmental center.com. Um, you can go to it and there's contact information through email or you can call and we're in Bel Air, um, at, um, six 10 near Episcopal High School, sort of that little region.
[00:22:04] Maria V. Hammond: So, um, yeah, we serve kids all over Houston and we're really honored to be part of this today. Thank you. It means a lot,
[00:22:11] Leah Clionsky: Oh, I'm so glad that you came on and you shared all these thoughts that would not have. Occurred to me. And so I love that you're discussing them and I'm gonna up, I'm gonna up my play date game now. So thank you again.
[00:22:23] Maria V. Hammond: Oh, I'm sure it's great. But yes, yes. We can always do more, can't we?
[00:22:27] Leah Clionsky: We always can.
[00:22:28] Maria V. Hammond: Yes, of course. Staying hopeful. Well, thank you for having us.
[00:22:32] Leah Clionsky: of course. And thank you for listening to Educated Parent. I hope you have a wonderful week, and I will talk to you again next week.