Birthdays are the happiest days of the year! Wouldn’t you agree? Nothing makes someone feel more special than a little birthday love and attention, from phone calls to cake and candles. An individual would love to celebrate one’s birthday with the people he/she is comfortable and adores. However for a child is it necessary to invite all her classmates if she has no bonding with most of them? Read the story below and what do you think the mom should do?
Source: Reddit
I [38F] have a daughter [8F] who is a shy, bookish introvert. She isn’t popular, and she would prefer to read at the library than go to a big giant social event. She has 4 really very good friends in her class of roughly 30 kids. I’ll add that some of her classmates are not very nice to her.
So her birthday is coming up and she specifically asked me if we could do something, her and her 4 friends. This is what has been going on since she was young, we’ve never thrown an actual giant instagram birthday party. We’re not poor by any means but we’re not rich and we live in a small apartment so what we’d normally do is me, her, and her 4 friends would go out for ice cream and a paint-your-own ceramic activity, or something like that.
However, word got out that my daughter is “having a party” and I got an email from her teacher where she essentially called me out for my “lack of inclusivity.” She said that she had gotten complaints from other kids in her class that my daughter was being a bully for only inviting certain people (re: her close friends) and the teacher told me that now I had to invite the whole class.
I cannot afford to host a party for 30 kids, or bring 30 kids to an activity. I also was afraid of my daughter getting bullied at her own party and wanted this to be a safe space for her. So I politely told the teacher this and explained that it wasn’t even a party but a get together for her closest friends.
Now I’m getting loads of angry emails from parents of kids who weren’t invited asking me why not and pressuring me to invite their kids. One even accused me of being discriminatory against their son because he has asthma. I’ve had 10 angry emails and I’m starting to think maybe I should invite all the kids in the spirit of inclusivity and have it in a park or something
Am I Wrong ? What Should I Do ?
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