I’m going to rant for a moment.
It won’t be becoming of me or show the nice side of myself but it will be truthful.
Parents can sometimes suck.
I’m not excluding myself from this group, sometimes I suck.
But not in this area.
Party attendance.
My mom raised us with the idea that when you are invited to a party you attend.
It doesn’t matter if they are not your best friend or your parents really don’t want to sit at Chuck E Cheese for 2 hours. If you can attend the party, you do.
Someone took the time to invite you. You never really know how many other kids have been invited or who else will show up. But you know that you will go if you can.
Several times my kids have been the only “school” friend to show up to someones party. That’s terrible when you know the entire class has been given an invitation.
I understand people have soccer games, parents work, family is in town, or any other reason that has ever been given for not attending a party.
I’m sure the thought process is…well we don’t really know this kid so we’re not going to go but I’m sure other kids will go…I’m here to tell you that a lot of time, no, the other kids are not going to the party. Therefore, no one from school is at the party.
We just had our annual Halloween party this weekend and to be honest, I was disappointed. My daughter said, “Mom, why didn’t my friends from school come?”
Out of the 13 classmates my daughter has in her class, only one child came to the party. ONE. And that was the only person who RSVP’d. That’s wrong people. At least respond that you aren’t coming.
Thankfully, we have really wonderful family friends who brought their children to the party so my daughter had friends there. But she still wondered aloud several times after the party on where her school friends were and honestly, it broke my heart for her.
She was so excited to bring the invitations to school and was eagerly anticipating sharing the pinata we made, the marshmallow toss game, and sweet treats with her friends.
I don’t know preschool parents.
I’m disappointed in you.
You could have done better.
But I will continue to teach my kids what I think is right.
So the next time my daughter receives a party invitation from school, we are going.
Because it’s the right thing to do.
At least in our house.
Well that really sucks. We try to go to as many parties as we can, which is most of them (not that we’re invited to a ton). The not RSVPing when you cannot attend has definitely been lost, for the most part. I don’t know why, but it’s VERY frustrating!!
So many people today have lost empathy, putting yourself in someone else’s place. Some may say, “oh, it’s only a party” but what is revealed is someone’s character–
Ironically, in this day of instant communication, they could not take a minute to RSVP.
I always used to hate when my kids learned these kinds of lessons I learned it is but better to focus on the one who did come, obviously a quality person. Plus, it is one reason, I tended to push more than one kind of group…..scouts, school, swimming, church, school. And why extend family friends are so golden–they come through.