I don't understand some parents

[Buckalew]

tiggerlover--my take on your post:

I see nothing wrong with giving options. In fact, we aren't doing a party this year because DD wants a new Trek bike and it is very expensive and I don't think we can do both w/o it being a splurge. So, we asked her about her opinion and she was fine w/ not having a party. (And darn it, I wanted to do a Hawaiian themed Lilo and Stitch party!!)

However, the mom in your first post sounds like she doesn't want to fool with a party so she offered the cash. I think THAT message to the child might be a bad one...I don't want to fool with a party because you aren't worth the trouble. I am not saying she means that but you never know what kind a message the child may get from an adult's comment.

 

[snoopy]

We usually do parties, because that is what my boys want. They will probably change their minds as they get older though.

We were invited to an interesting birthday party "theme" from one of my son's classmates not long ago. We were told not to bring presents, instead, we were asked to contribute $5 to the birthday boy so he could pick out what he wanted. We ended up not going as we had other plans that weekend, but even if we didn't I think I would have had a problem with handing over cash to the kid because he asked us to.