#4: Keep communicating.Īs the party progresses, let everyone know what is coming next. Letting them know the rules up front makes for a more cooperative group. Kids are used to following rules in the classroom, sports and grocery stores, so this is not anything new. Once guests arrive, set a few ground rules like no jumping on the furniture or running inside the house. Ask parents to drop off and pick up their kids promptly. Let everyone know what time the party begins and when it will end. #3: Establish expectations and boundaries. No matter how small your guest list is, the party will still feel like a full house. Keep in mind that little guests usually come with at least one parent in tow, and the bigger the guest, the hungrier they are. A good rule of thumb is having one guest for each year of the birthday kid. Perhaps your child prefers the company of a few good friends rather than the entire Little League team coming over. I see you weighing the popularity contest in your head, but resist the temptation. Take five minutes to sketch out what the next 10 birthday parties might look like and dial it back from there. If you go with pony rides when your child turns three, you will have to have camel rides at seven, and by 10 you’ll be hosting a run with the bulls. Nor, heaven help us, to their own siblings. This is not a competition and your little one does not have to be compared to the other little ones. You cannot underestimate the lengths to which Extraverts will go to celebrate their offspring. #1: Decide on your precedents while it’s still early days. I’m going to dive into ways that Introverts can organize or attend those big, loud, memorable kid events without losing our cool and maybe come out the other side looking like the life of the party. Roll up your sleeves and get out your pencil. We can spend introverted energy on the ones we love. Introverts can’t afford to waste one ounce of energy when faced with hours of party, people and pandemonium. With celebration rituals involving cake, confetti and cowering behind the rhododendron unless I came up with some serious game. If I played my parenting cards right, each of my kids was going to have a birthday. If you do the math, it quickly becomes obvious that I had to find my party groove or die trying. I put my five kids through one elementary school, which equals 16 years of PTA for over 800 students, some 30 teachers, and three different principals. Five rambunctious, never-slow-down-to-tie-your-shoes, people-loving kids who dragged me into the seething mass of humanity and never let me look back. My name is Jolie and I’m an Introvert of the first water.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |