We want our children to be invited. We are sad if they are left out. But as Peanut gets older, the birthday parties are getting longer and more intense.
For example, Peanut has been invited to three former classmate’s birthday parties for June. I assume all these children are turning 7 but some could be turning 6. Peanut is 6 but in some ways developmentally she is 3 or 4. These birthday parties consist of:
- Pool party at the child’s home (2 hours)
- Campout party at the child’s home (3 hours)
- Another pool party but at a recreation center (2.5 hours)
I know I’ll take Peanut to all of these parties, but I can’t help but wonder how she’s going to do. The last home pool party she went to she had an accident. I mean #2 and if you know anything about what happens in a swim diaper if you don’t catch those in time, you get a pretty good idea of what I was faced with. I spent a lot of time in a bathroom with no wipes or real way to clean up that mess.
Peanut is basically potty trained, but for the pool, I still use the swim diaper just to be safe. Will the other kids notice? What will they think if they do? Then there’s the camp out. All in all I think that will be ok, but 3 hours! That’s a long time for a child with a short attention span and a typical play date time of 45 to 90 minutes.
The recreation center; what will they be doing? Will she get left behind while her classmates take off for deeper waters and braver slides? Will she care? Probably not.
As I said, I’ll take Peanut to these parties. I’ll stay, of course, even though with my other children I would have left them at this age. One more thing I’m not totally looking forward to. I’m glad Peanut is invited. I’m glad she is included. I know these children asked to have her on their birthday list. And yet, as a mother of a child with special needs, birthday parties just aren’t as simple as they are for other moms. I know, because I’ve been that other mom on more than one occasion.