""Morning! We're not. I don't think we were invited to this one ..." I wrote back, unoffended by the lack of invitation. But then, another, more unsettling thought crossed my mind: "Or I missed the invite, which is also very possible," I added. Sure enough, when I typed "Henry" into my inbox search a few moments later, two things came up: an invitation to the party and a reminder to RSVP. I'd missed both."
"It means having to make time in our schedules to attend these parties and buy presents for each kid, which is harder to do when you don't know them-and who wants to saddle a kid, or a parent, really, with one more thing they don't need or want? Because we live in a rural area and kids are spread out in every direction from school, it also means driving, sometimes over an hour, to each event."
"Like most kids, she adores an excuse to dress up and an opportunity to play with her pals. And I genuinely enjoy helping her shop for gifts for her besties, picking things out together that we know they'll appreciate-like the Wild Robot book one friend hadn't read yet, and the nail stickers another admired when they were over for a playdate. Plus, selfishly, it's one less hang I need to plan myself, and I usually get to see my parent friends there,"
A parent received a text about a classmate's birthday and discovered an overlooked invitation and RSVP, which provoked immediate anxiety. The parent values taking a child to parties, choosing thoughtful gifts, and socializing with other parents, but attending every event across a 25-child class imposes real costs. These costs include scheduling conflicts, buying presents for children the family barely knows, long rural drives often exceeding an hour, and the logistical hassle of managing many events. The accumulation of time, expense, and social expectation produces strain and occasional spirals of worry.
Read at Slate Magazine
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