Member Blogs

My boyfriend's ex would buy presents for all 3 girls whenever it was one of their birthdays so the others would not feel left out. He told me he always thought this was ridiculous but he felt powerless to change it. After we moved in together I asked him how he would raise his kids if he called all the shots. He listed tons of things he would not allow that he felt were contributing to their spoiled brat attitudes. So I informed him that he was running the show at our house and he could raise his daughters not to be spoiled and I would back him up no matter what.

His 3 girls are no longer nasty spoiled brats and they only live with us on weekends. Values and good behavior comes from the parents.

If I was the mother of the birthday boy at that party I would've told that kid to stop being rude or leave. Why are moms so afraid to speak up when they see somebody else's kid acting up? If that mother is one of those entitled types that will probably cost you a friendship but do you really want your kids hanging around a nasty brat like that?

wow, imagine the rod that mother is making for her back!!!!
I'm 100% with all the parents who would have said "build a bridge and get over it or we leave right now!!". I have three kids, 8, 4 and 2, there's no lack of jealousy at certain times, but you have to teach kids that sometimes they aren't the centre of attention. I am oh soooo sick of the parents who are bringing up "entitled" kids with no sense of social boundaries or how to win and lose with respect.
Bring back the days when political correctness was unheard of because I'm over the obnoxious generation!!

Wow - I'm thankful that I've never seen such a thing. The fun of goody bags is to give the non-birthday kids a little something to take home, but giving him his own candle, even if it upset the birthday boy? Nuh-uh. We would have moved outside or away from the action and had a quick chat along the lines of "do you want to leave?" if answer is no "stop the tantrum, it is [David's] birthday, so he has candles". My child generally was just excited that there was going to be cake and didn't whine about it not being her day. Now that she's older she's remembering things she likes for her own birthday.

I agree with you. Personally, in that situation, I would take my kid away from the festivites until she got over herself. But a lot of people don't approve of my style; letting your kids be disappointed is less and less socially acceptable, unfortunately.

I have 2 kids who are 3 months apart. Some jealousy is inevitable. I do think they are a little young to just "suck it up," so I make some adjustments, e.g., have something new (but more modest) for the non-birthday girl too. When my 3yo DD1 looked sad about not getting any cards on DD2's birthday, I brought out a few cards from DD1's birthday, and that made her happy. But at someone else's party, my kids are expected to behave or be removed. That's more a matter of the parent's self-discipline than the child's, in my opinion.