When I was a kid (admittedly that was many, many, many years ago) we had birthday parties only for significant years. Turning 5, and so beginning our school career; birthdays ending in a zero; the 13th marking official teenager-hood; a maybe a 20th or 21st to get trolleyed with your mates.
Now, it seems there’s the expectation of a party every year, and god forbid you might not invite every possible person your child has contact with.
One mum has written a bit of an essay bemoaning her offspring’s lack of invite to a birthday party on a site called Mom.com. It’s a bit wordy, but long story short: it’s a whinge about her kid not being one of the 8 to be invited to a classmate’s birthday party.
Why does every child in the class have to be invited? We never use to do that, we would just invite our closest mates. Now, much like schools offering a participation medal just for showing up and eating your lunch, the expectation seems to be that all kids in the class get an invite. Why should the birthday boy or girl have to invite kids they don’t like? News flash: they don’t. Parents need to stop bitching about this stuff, because their ridiculous sense of entitlement is going to create an even worse generation of self-entitled twats.