- When it rains half an hour before the scheduled start time, many people will already be on their way
- Especially if the rain is localised to your suburb
- And even if it is absolutely torrential.
- We can fit 12 people sitting in our lounge.
- Butter icing is all very well, especially for small children to mush into hair, carpet and my nice skirt.
- Entertaining without a dishwasher is tough.
- Unless you have fabulous guests who do most of the dishes before they go home.
- It is possible to make a 1-shaped cake without it turning out looking like a penis.
- Balloons make excellent baby distractors.
- Pink cupcakes are more popular than their blue siblings.
- One year olds can't handle the jandle in regard to (un)wrapping.
- There is always at least one child who is more developed than your offspring at any given event.
- And at least one relative of said Uber-kinder who will rub it in. Much like the icing.
- People will come from far and wide just for a cuddle from Wriggly :-)
Thursday 15 January 2009
Things I learnt from my son's first birthday party
In no particular order,
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5 comments:
What the hell is it with parents who rub in the superior achievements of their children?
Even as I typed that, I knew people who know me will be laughing at it. I talk about how much I love my kids and how great they are incessantly. And I'm sure it's annoying. But you can do that without rubbing other parents' noses in it - and I always try to recognise and praise the specialness of other kids too. God knows there are many talents my kids don't have, which others have in abundance.
The worst I've seen was my (brief) contact with other parents of gifted children. There were some parents who used gifted children forums to show off - which actually has the effect of further alienating kids who may already feel isolated.
While I'm ranting, I'll share my personal philosophy. Embracing stuff you're not good at is as much a part of life as following your talents. I try to teach my kids that it's OK not to be good at things, that you shouldn't be afraid to have a go at things you're not good at, you should never disparage someone else's talent because you don't share it, and an important life skill is learning to stick with tasks you're not good at without feeling too discouraged.
What a rant!
Happy Birthday, Wriggly!
Phil
Of course the relatives of children will shout about their various talents - it's what they do...
Did I pass on my apologies for not coming to that? I meant to...
I think there's a substantial difference between sharing and skiting. A lot of it can be about tone; in particular not being a smug git. But maybe that's just my skewed perception of the sport of Olympic Parenting?
What really bothers me is when people clearly lie about what their child has achieved. Does it really make them feel better?
My oneliner to Anna's rant is "If we were all the same, the world would be a very boring place."
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