20-40-60 Etiquette---My child was not invited!

YOU ASK! WE ANSWER! YOU DECIDE!

By Callie Gordon, Lillie-Beth Brinkman and Helen Ford Wallace

QUESTION: How do you explain to your child that they haven’t been invited to a neighbor’s birthday party? It is more challenging when they live next door, are the same age and attend the same school. The girls also have the same friends. How should I have handled this scene with my child?

CALLIE’S ANSWER: This is not my department but make fun plans for her to do instead! This way she will have something fun already lined up when you tell her.

LILLIE-BETH’S ANSWER: Party politics affect us all at any age. It’s not easy to be left out, especially when you see the party going on next door. However, you can’t force your child to be included. Parents sometimes are limited by space of the party’s location, their budget or their ability to handle more than a certain number of children, all things you can tell your child. Other times, parents include people because it’s the right thing to do, which seems like it would have been in this case, since your child is next door. It’s hard to imagine what that parent was thinking.

While you can’t change the party’s invite list or shield your child from disappointment, you can tell your child that you’re sorry and offer an extra hug or a fun activity away from the house. Later, if you’re close to the neighbors and if it’s really bothering you, you can ask them politely — out of range of any children’s ears — whether there’s a problem between the two kids. She might be surprised to hear that your child’s invitation wasn’t received, or she might surprise you by telling you of some unknown friction between the two that you can work on mending.

We all have to learn gracefully how to handle hurt feelings from being left out, and this is a chance for your child to learn that life goes on and that she’s going to be OK. Encourage your child to smile and say “happy birthday” at school and leave it at that.