January 26, 2015

High School, Football, Parties...oh my!

No we haven't fast forwarded ten years since my last post.  I may not be prolific but I do try to update this blog more often than that.  In order to make sure I remembered the three topics I wanted to address in this post, I typed the title and then went about our usual busy day hoping to return in the quiet of the evening.  That was three days ago.

Around that time, the boys were left off the guest list of an event many of their friends (and their friends' parents) were invited to.  No one rubbed it in our faces, in fact, at least one child was told to be discreet about the party plans.  I found out anyway because well, it's almost impossible for a seven year old to be discreet.   I'm fairly certain that the reason the boys and I were not invited is because I don't have a husband.  It was definitely a couple 'n kids type of evening. The good news is that my sons had no idea their classmates were meeting up.

I'm not sure why I cared about being left out--I had other plans for the evening anyway.  I guess it's just human nature.  As soon as I realized what was going on, I sent a friend a "can you believe this?" text.  She commiserated with me and I felt instantly better having connected with someone who gets it.  Later I mused that this incident reminded me of high school and how those years would have been so much better with a smartphone and the ability to text a good friend.   One thought led to another and I found myself wishing I had the friends then that I have now.  High school would have been a lot more bearable.  If only one could merge time to get the right people in the right place,...one would always feel loved and supported instead of lonely and left out.

Then I realized that a) I'm no longer in high school and b) those wonderfully supportive friends I wish I had when I was 15?  I have them now and they're terrific!  I didn't know them in high school, but I know them today--I'm honored and blessed by their presence in my life*.

Who needs a bunch of party invitations anyway?  Even without a big Superbowl bash on our agenda I am excited to share this great game resource with my boys.  I found these football printables on the 3dinosaurs website.  I've never explained the game of football, at least not in any detail, to my sons.  I'm hoping to use some of the activities in the Extra Pack (download #4) as they are geared toward older children.

Speaking of older children, birthday plans are coming along.  I'm grateful for the comments on last week's party post.  Sometimes I get weary of being the only adult around here...constantly putting my foot down and the ensuing tantrums.  The unpleasantness isn't enough to make me give in to my children's every wish and demand, but it is enough to cause me to procrastinate with less than Disney-esque news.  After reading the comments, I felt truly supported.  It sounds funny, I know, but it seemed there were all these moms in cyberspace who "had my back".  I knew when I told my boys that big venue parties were off the table, I could survive the disappointment (as would they) because other moms were standing by expecting me to do the right thing (as was I).

If you posted a comment, thank you!

I've yet to send out the invitations but I did tell the boys that they could each have 5 boys for a special lunch at a fun "theme" restaurant.  No party rooms, no host or inflatables, just a table of friends and good food.  My heart sank when Henry asked, "and then we go to the real party, right?"  I explained that this would be the real party.  In fact, I had to explain that concept a lot over the weekend.  It's slowly sinking in and the boys seem like they'll survive.






*I'm also quite thankful for smartphones (something we never dreamed of in high school).  They make connecting with friends easy even though we are scattered far and wide with our children.

1 comment:

  1. Oh so true about the friends thing. I find I get so hurt when left out of things but then laugh at myself when I admit that I wouldn't have wanted to do the whatever anyway...it's just the being left out that hurts.

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