Kids birthday parties..good or bad

Growing up, I never wanted a party for MY birthday--I didn't see the need for it. Give me my Gram's caramel cake, some presents and I'm a happy camper. That's all it takes to please me.

Now, we have people renting hotels, moon bounces, Zoo's, halls, churches, DJ's and so on. For my daughter's first birthday, I did have a DJ. But that was mostly for the adults. But still, yet--we had a DJ.

For her second birthday party, I invited my friend's kids over to the playground and had a cookout. It was awesome with less stress and more fun. It was great to have the kids running around and having fun. Now, I don't begrudge the parents who go all out and spend tons of money. This isn't something I do, but sometimes it feels like parents are competing against each other and not thinking of the kids. I'm not saying do your parties at Mickey D's or Chucky Cheese but don't rent out the Hilton Hotel, either. Kids just want to have fun and we, the adults, overthink, overreact and overpay for all these things and kids can just have a good time with a cardboard box and some ballons.

We do love our children and want to give them everything we can. But they don't need everything, they just need us to do what is right for them. My personal rule for my daughter is no clowns ever! They are scary--especially to me.


Here are 5 simple rules to follow for having a successful birthday party.

Rule# 1. Purell and sanitizers are 100% needed when dealing with kids


Rule# 2. Tell your kids to look both ways before running because that swing will knock her right out!

Rule# 3. If you are uncomfortable with something like taking your kid's socks off, then don't do it. Be a parent.

Rule# 4. Interact with other parents. It's always a good idea to meet new people. You never know where it will take you, and what opportunities lie ahead.


Rule# 5. Don't micro-parent. Let your kids have fun and run around. Relax and have a cupcake.

Saran Wrap

My daughter loves me and I know this because she is rarely seperated from me. I love every second of it. So I thought. It was one of those days when she was my shadow and following me everywhere I go. The issue was I was cooking and she was there, I sat down to eat and she sat in my lap (pet peeve warning I need at least 3 feet of space people)going the the bathroom and then banging on the door etc..each time I told her to leave until I was finished or closed the door and said I will be back. That didn't go over to well as tears hit her eyes immediatly. Fine, its an emotional day and kids have that so I said be calm Kevin it will stop but it kept happening and I was about to go crazy. What perplexed me the most was when she started crying she wrapped her arms around my leg and wouldn't let me move anywhere without her. Each time? I wasn't the only one in the house by the way little girl but it felt that way. This behavior has never happened before and hasn't happened since so I was thinking where is this coming from? I don't want her seeking attention in this way so I choose to ignore her and let her no but when she would just come over and saran wrap my leg I couldn't ignore her. So instead of losing my mind (I got really close) I sat her down and talked to her and asked what was wrong. She handles everything better that way and I hope this continues.

Playtime

Once the weather breaks it is great to be able to take the little ones outside to stretch their legs. The best part is watching them interact with other kids. Is one kid bossy, a follower, a loner or a little bit of everything. To me I really look at how the parents interact with the kids, that tells me a lot. Today a child brought out his ball and bike but didn't really play with it. He was too busy going down the dual slides with my daughter. The instant another kid came out and touched his bike he ran over and took it away. His father walked over and had a chat with him and he let the child get on the back and when he was done he got back on. That's what I love to see because there are a lot of parents letting their kids play full contact football in dept stores and I hear "keep it down!" Really? That's it? How about stop before this guy drop kicks you. Observing your kids is so key because you can curtail or encourage all the behaviors. No I didn't like hearing "yeah he is hard headed, I'm going to have trouble when he is 16." Dude he is 2 now. That's 14 years away and you sense doom already? He could remind you of yourself but make him better than you. Isn't that our job anyway?

Consistant...Key word

Being a parent means a lot of things and one of this is consistency. Kids do the darndest things at any time and if you let them know they did wrong from day one and continued it then you keep that up. The problems lies within the parent. For instance my daughter as she normally does climbs on me and gave me a book. As I opened it she began to read to me. It felt great and not everything was right but the feeling was tremendous. I was on cloud 15 as she was all excited about this and so was I. Then the child instinct of writing on anything reared its ugly head. Pen in hand, object that clearly isn't her and should not have ink written on it was about to. So I took that pen away and tears began flowing and while she doesn't have tantrums she knows how to shed a tear and they came a flowing. It isn't a good feeling but it has to happen in order to keep them from going over board because what was cute when they were younger definetly is not the case now. So while one time you are doing your happy dance the next minute it you need that disciple hat on. You can never let them "get away" with things. It leads to bad habits.

Sick, sick, sick

So having bronchitis and your daughter having an ear infection isn't a good combo. That means two sick people and one of whom seems to always be attached to me. She is needy and a little grumpy so only daddy can do anything. I mean "is true" as one of my friends would say but I'm sick also. The kind of sick that only rest and relaxation can give. Not happening here at all. I didn't have the energy to cook and didn't have an appetite at all. BTW healthy choice is healthy but not tasty, I mean hasn't anyone found a happy medium yet? So my daughter had chicken nuggets twice this week which never happens and I feel guilty that she didn't have a full course but this was kicking my butt. So it is alright to feed your kids fast food but make sure it is a rare occurrence. The fast food was the only thing she didn't throw up all week which was coincidental I'm sure. In addition I broke a record of mine as I had her throw up on me at least once everyday. I was lucky to avoid such defeats when she was younger but it always comes back to get you.