Party Planner Michael
(Yes, we have power. Thank you very little Pepco for the 50 hour outage. And the 4 hour reprieve. Just enough time to spend $200 in groceries in which I threw out half of them. And a visit from Amy. Moving on. No one wants to hear me whine about that anymore.)
Michael is obsessed with planning his birthday party. He talks about it constantly and is always changing his mind on what theme he wants. He has invited his whole room from camp. Which would be fine and normal except that his birthday is in MARCH. March. I would get this if his birthday was a month or two months away, but March? I'm starting to feel really bad for the kids who think they are getting invited to Michael's birthday party with ponies and light sabers and dinosaurs and water balloons (the last four themes he has come up with) and that invitation is never going to come. Because by March, Michael will have a whole new set of Kindergarten friends and he will have forgotten all these kids.
I feel like what he is doing is mean. Taunting these children with a birthday party that is never going to happen. Well, it is going to happen, but not for 8 MONTHS. 8 months.
What is this new obsession with a birthday that is 8 months away? Do we not get that it is 8 months away? Is it the only way he knows how to make friends? Is he going to be the one in college having all the dorm room parties? Are we just understanding the concept of birthdays and it is TOO BIG TOO MUCH TOO EXCITING?
I'm not sure I can talk about Michael's 6th birthday for 8 more months. It is really not that interesting of a topic. Is he going to start planning his Bar Mitzvah at 9?
He definitely needs some perspective on how far away that is. Have you ever seen those paper chains people use to countdown Christmas? I would make him one. Scratch that. Make HIM make one. Do each month in a different color, and put other events like Christmas and Kindergarten starting on it so he can get some perspective. I bet after the first few "months" of making rings he will get it and give up. Or you'll have a fun thing for him to do toward his birthday planning and keep him busy.
Posted by: Shantelle | 07/28/2010 at 04:14 PM
Brynna went through this phase and totally grew out of it. But yeah, after like 9 months. So, don't stress it too much, but you will be totally tired of talking about it when it finally arrives. Good luck!
Posted by: Jessi | 07/28/2010 at 04:14 PM
Do you think its the party or th presents he wants so badly? My nephew went through a phase of obsession over his next party, but it turned out he really justed like planning things. He started "planning" a dinner every month (a theme, homemade decorations, invitations) and maybe invited one friend (although the first was just his family) but he had a blast. Of course, he only planned two or three before it became so. much. work. but still, he had fun with it.
Posted by: Kate | 07/28/2010 at 04:23 PM
My kids totally used to do this. Well, still do on occasion. My solution was to tell them that they couldn't talk/plan/list, etc. until after school started (both have late fall birthdays.) It mostly worked and I only got b-day talk for 2 months.
Posted by: Headless Mom | 07/29/2010 at 10:21 AM
Paper chain, FTW. My nephew used to do this, too, when he was about the same age. Turned out his concept of time was a little... cruddy. Also, any time we would get in the car, he'd ask "Are we still in City, State, USA?" all together like that. Every time. Maybe the concepts are just kind of big and new? That you can drive for a little while and still not be very far from home, or that your birthday can be so far away but still not THAT far, so they aren't sure how excited to get about it..?
Posted by: AmandaJo | 07/29/2010 at 01:31 PM
Principessa already has her wedding planned out (in vivid detail) if that makes you feel any better. A calendar helped me with her to show her how far off her birthday is (in November)-- and she associates each month with activities/holidays so that helps as well. August is mammma's birthday, September is Rosh Hashanah and the beginning of school, October is Halloween, and November is her birthday. :)
Ah the joys of parenting!
Posted by: C.Mom | 07/29/2010 at 02:46 PM
The good thing? Is that they all do it. My oldest is planning her tenth birthday party already. Yeah...she's turning nine. In December.
He isn't being mean, he's just being well, five.
Posted by: Issa | 07/30/2010 at 11:57 AM
Owen has planned his NEXT TWO birthdays :) He has told me that his 6th birthday will be at Teamworks (a local sports complex) and his 7th will be at CEC (kill me now). At least he hasn't invited anyone yet.
Posted by: Maura | 07/31/2010 at 10:36 AM
All the other kids will have forgotten about it, just like Michael. They'll be on to different friends too.
Posted by: DemMom | 08/02/2010 at 09:44 AM