Play Date Disaster

What our play dates tend to look like...

Play dates are confusing adventures. On one hand I get to hang out with awesome moms who I want to spend more time with, on the other hand I have to navigate relationships and dilemmas between my daughter and the other kids in the playgroup. My daughter is not an easy going personality. She is also two years old. Her friend's toy looks a lot better than her toy. It isn't a problem when we are hanging out with older kids who don't mind passing toys back and forth. This is a huge dilemma when playing with other kids under the age of 5 who refuse to share their toy.

I am a big believer in teaching Sadie how to share. Sadie gets a few minutes with her toy and then the kid who wants to play with the same toy also gets a few minutes. The sentiment does not seem to be shared with other mothers. It leaves me in a bind. On one hand I am teaching Sadie how to share and on the other hand I want to respect the other mothers and not cause a scene about sharing. This leads to the inevitable Sadie meltdown. After a few hours of this joyful refereeing I am ready to curl into bed and hide.

I'm not sure how to handle this conundrum. Do I let Sadie throw constant temper tantrums over the unfairness of the situation or do I demand the other mom encourages sharing between our kids? For now I find it easier on my sanity to avoid play dates altogether - knowing full well this solution cannot possibly last.