Psychological Warfare or Just Kids Being Kids?

Yesterday we hosted 3 girls for Leah’s 7th birthday party. (Dylan, Maria and Melanie – names changed to blah, blah, blah.) Leah decided on a puppy theme. We had 3 games planned, plus 2 small crafts. Then cake, ice cream and opening gifts – it sounded like an afternoon of fun. I was feeling like mother superior with my stellar planning.

The party started at 2:30 and five meltdowns later, the party was over.


Nothing went as planned. I couldn’t get the 4 girls to agree to do anything at the same time. When Leah wanted to do the piñata, the other girls wanted to do crafts. Then Leah pouted because she didn’t get to go first on every game. During the piñata activity, Leah actually laid on the patio in the fetal position.

HIGHLIGHTS
-One child wanted to spend the afternoon alone in the backyard
-Another child got mad because the others were having too much fun
-In our haste to distract them we not only forgot the candles on the cake, but didn’t sing Happy Birthday.
-The only “game” they would play together was when I put on rock music and they pretended to be models prancing down the catwalk.




I suggested to my husband that there must be a hidden camera somewhere because there was no way what was happening was REAL.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO WHO?
The last straw was when the girls divided into 2 camps. Half wanted to play with Leah’s Littlest Pet Shop and the other half wanted to dance. My husband and I thought the only way out was to suggest cake and ice cream. Desperate to unify them through sugar, we forgot to light the candles or sing Happy Birthday. With half the cake missing, we quickly added the seven candles and asked the girls to gather around to sing. Maria refused to come back inside and Dylan felt she needed to stay next to Maria. Leah ran into our bedroom crying which left Melanie, my husband and I singing Happy Birthday to an invisible birthday girl. Defeated, I blew out the candles! (My wish was not granted because the party continued.)



Finally, the heavens shone down on us and the parents arrived to retrieve their progeny. Wouldn’t you know it, the girls could not be coaxed out of Leah’s room because they were having so much fun. Their parents wondered how I could put up with the 4 screaming girls and I reassured them that the amped up squeals of happiness were 1,000 times better than the earlier tantrums.

HINDSIGHT IS 20/20
Twenty four hours have passed since we were held hostage by 4 first graders and I’ve had time to reflect. Here’s what I learned. I tried too hard to keep the guest list manageable. We originally invited 5 girls and only 3 came. In hindsight I would have invited eight in the hopes that 5 would show up. In this case having more personalities would have been easier. I think I could have had an easier time dividing and conquering with a few more (weak) personalities. Once I realized the group was small, I should have let the party evolve into more of a glorified play date. I think an organic approach would have been more successful.