So Zac finally had his party, almost 2 weeks later, and it went great. He had a great time especially playing with all his cousins, but I'm really glad it's OVER! I love planning parties but WOW are they stressful. And to top it off Zac acted up a bit during the party in front of everyone, and I really didn't know what to do. I've never had this problem before, but I think he's at the age where he finally has his own opinion and now he can finally voice it. We've been out in stores before and he will just point things out or say something about someone he sees and because my son is so loud everyone hears. It's really quite embarassing, and I find myself not knowing what to say to him or to the person who he has just offended. I guess the saying is true, "Kids say the darnest things!" Oy Ve!!! So anyway, during the party it was time to open gifts, and by this time he had been playing for hours, he was hot and sweaty, tired, and just plain over stimulated (I guess this is my way of trying to justify it). So we started opening gifts and the very first toy was something he didn't "ask" for and he flipped out and ran off! OMG I didn't know what to do and I wanted to cry! Not only was I embarassed but I felt like the worst parent EVER! So me and Danny pulled him inside and gave him a GOOD talking to, telling him he wouldn't get any of the presents if he kept acting that way and that he needed to go out and say sorry. So he did, but he acted up again when he got several SpiderMan toys. He's never seen SpiderMan so of course he doesn't want the toys! I felt so bad and embarassed that I quickly apologized to whomever got him the gift, telling them that he's just cranky and that he'll love it later. OMG I really wanted to cry!! But everyone was really understanding and they know that he doesn't act this way normally, so in the end no one really cared, Except For ME!!! And of course yesterday we spent the whole day playing with ALL of his toys and he loved them ALL, go figure!
ps. Notice the last pic. That's me pointing at him to say, "You better say Thank you, right now!" Unfortunately, there's lots of those pics of me pointing! lol
2 comments:
Your son is just gorgeous! I think birthday parties can be really overwhelming for kids, and even though it is our job to teach them to behave appropriately, he really was just being a typical overwhelmed and overstimulated little boy. What has worked for us is to role play the opening gift thing. We even went so far as to put silly stuff from around the house in gift bags, and then open it in front of each other and each person had to think of something nice about the pretend "gift" i.e. "oh, I love the color!" or whatever. We remind before every b-day party about different scenarios and what to say...i.e. if it is something you already have, if two people give the same thing, or if you just really don't like it, how you still need to think of something nice to say and thank the person. And we talk about how people took their time and $ to pick a gift because they love us, and that is why we don't want to hurt their feelings.
some people don't open gifts at kid's parties to avoid all this...but I think that is missing an opportunity to teach them how to accept a present graciously.
I think the solution is to limit the size of the party...but of course that is hard when you have lots of family and friends and don't want anyone to feel left out.
Sorry I wrote a book! and sorry the party was stressful for you, my kids have embarrassed me many times...most parents understand!
Sounds like my life totally, LOL!
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