I’m cancelling my 8-year-old’s party after punishing him with no screen time didn’t work – he doesn’t deserve it
A MUM has sparked a fierce debate after revealing she cancelled her eight-year-old’s birthday celebrations, in an attempt to discipline the child.
Whether at a theme park or a cute café, birthday parties are childhood memories that stay with you forever.
However, one parent has made the decision to cancel her son’s birthday party plans this weekend and it’s divided opinions on social media.
Sharing the situation on Reddit, the mum explained that her only child is turning eight and they had a special party to look forward to, surrounded by all of his friends and family.
She wrote: “Yesterday we were informed by his school that he pulled another kid’s pants and underwear down.
“We were obviously not happy with this incident, explained how it’s wrong and gave an appropriate punishment by taking electronics away.
”This morning, I got a call from his principal telling me how he attacked a kindergartner at recess before school started and was pushing him down to the ground and spanking him.”
The horrified mum went on to write: ”“The child is traumatized. I am absolutely beside myself.”
But although she said there would be ”many punishments coming his way”, alongside apology letters, she’s also considering cancelling the weekend party.
”We will be taking away all electronics, no play dates, he has to go work for his dad doing some hard labour, and an early bedtime.
”I am also looking into therapy for him. This is obviously a pretty big deal, so should I also cancel his birthday party?”
Fellow Redditors were in two minds – although they agreed with the mum, some reckoned this wasn’t a ”punishment”.
One social media user wrote: “I would cancel it because you need to go into essentially lockdown mode to figure out what’s going on with your son to make him suddenly act like this.
”You can still have a little family celebration, but he’s not going to get better until you know what’s wrong.”
Another agreed, adding that they should still celebrate the big day – but just with a small family gathering.
”Your comments and the other ones below it are all good points on why a ‘party’ is not a safe or good idea right now, but that no kid should have to completely miss his birthday.”
5 gifts to never buy kids, according to a parenting expert
With so much choice, how to know which pick to go for? And more importantly – which popular choices will assist the child’s development?
Here to help fellow parents is expert and mum-of-two Kirsty Ketley, who shared the five common items you’d never find in her home during Christmas or birthdays.
- Kids Motor Ride-On Toys: ”Your child doesn’t pedal and they don’t use any type of hand-eye coordination or bilateral coordination with their feet or arms to get their bodies moving.”
- Phones for older children: ”Phones have a use for children who are off out and about independently, but rules and boundaries need to be in place for usage. Not only to protect children from the darker side of being online, but to help them keep vital social skills, spend more time with their family and to sleep better.”
- Violent toys should be avoided: ”Studies have shown that toys that involve shooting make children more aggressive. Even angry faces on the logo or other weapons in the form of toys should not be given to small children.”
- Tablets for younger children: ”Too much swiping with a finger doesn’t allow your child to strengthen their hands, fingers, wrists and arms needed to write and staring at a screen for too long. [It] doesn’t give your child the opportunity to cross the midline with their body, which is important for tracking words across a page, reading sentence-to-sentence and paragraph-to-paragraph.”
- Piles of toys: ”They will also struggle to tidy up, so it’s something to be mindful of. It’s best to select a wide range of all types of toy, to support all areas of their development, however, it’s good to bare there few thing in mind.”
Someone else explained why they thought the celebrations would be a disaster even if it was to take place.
“Chances are that no kids will turn up to his party even if it went ahead.
”I wouldn’t let my kid go.
”And having no-shows could hurt him even more than he clearly already is.”
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