ah, parenthood

[flea]

For those inclined to social anxiety anyway, could there be anything worse than the spectre of the child's birthday party? To the basic anxiety, add parental competiveness and anxiety for your KID's social development.

I may just fucking skip it, but that makes me a bad parent, right?

Argh. Worrying at it is keeping me awake while the kids are sleeping, violating the laws of man and nature.

Comments

[ww1614.livejournal.com]

Hi! You don't know me, but I clicked on here from DX's LJ and feel compelled to write a comment.

1. Don't stress over a birthday party! Have a family birthday party, even if it's just the 4 of you. Just be sure to have cake, candles, and presents, and it will be fine. For various reasons, I didn't have a birthday party for my daughter (outside of small family gatherings) till she was 6 and she is absolutely fine. I will do the same for my son by choice, though I may get tempted next year (his 5th). But if I do it, it will be because *I* want to. Besides, you have a newborn. Even if there are people around who would hold it against you, they would totally waive their judginess considering you have a newborn.
2. I am fairly well-read in Regencies. :) Chesney doesn't really get better/different/more 3-dimensional. She has her own charms, mainly that she is a rare Regency writer who seems to be interested in class issues and is unafraid to show the seamier side of 19th century life. But her characters almost never have any real complexity. I did like the Six Sisters series and the A House for the Season series, both of which were written 20+ years ago.
Balogh is always iffy. When she is good, she is very very good, and when she is not, she's kind of dull. My favorite of hers is "The Notorious Rake." If you haven't read Carla Kelly, Edith Layton, or Charlotte Louise Dolan in the Signet Regency line--DO! The books are older (written in the 80s/early 90s), but they are really wonderful.

OK, going away. :)

[cashmerepett.livejournal.com]

It so doesn't make you a bad parent. I hope to be able to put off the whole social birthday party thing for as long as possible.

I want the date to be special to my kids before adding the stress of dealing with the other humans and their sprog.

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

Chiming in with another "nope, doesn't make you a bad parent" here. Sean didn't have a "real" birthday party until he was five; before then we just had friends over for a backyard BBQ + cake.