Thomas the Bad-Tempered Aunty
Whinge alert!
What is it with people* who need to turn every single birthday party for their small children into a full scale Production?????
What is it with people** who go to a small child's birthday party and just sit around eating dip and scones and ignore their children for 2 hours???
What is it with people who go to a small child's birthday party, sit around eating dip and scones while ignoring their children, and suddenly decide to take issue with a pair of boisterous twins who may or may not have been looking out for each other and being all twinny and in doing so may have pushed over some small(er) children in their desire to play together???
What is it with small children who whinge every time they're knocked over when they're patently in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time?
Is it any surprise that after a couple of weeks designed to test me to the nth degree, we turned up to a Small Child's (my nephew's*** 3rd) birthday party and I just fell apart. I almost had an anxiety attack - started shaking, the works... I was expecting just family. I could have handled family. It was so so so much worse. No polite conversation - just being ignored for 2 hours straight. Oh the joy of it all. You'd think I'd have got used to this kind of thing by now, have better coping mechanisms... but no. I don't.
Bugger.
* My brother and sister-in-law. MrB's brother and his wife. EVERY SINGLE BLOODY birthday party is themed up the wazoo. This one was 'Thomas the tank engine'. You don't need anymore detail. Trust me. It's just boils down to being All. About. Them. For a change.
** Friend of said In-Laws from their church. Actually from the youth group that MrB and his brother started, but MrB's brother turned into a phenomenon, thereby giving himself guru-status within the Sydney Diocese (and beyond). They've always been those painful Shire Christians... and now they've all been breeding. ARGH!
*** Is it schadenfreudelicious that said nephew (who's quite adorable (and more like his Uncle B than his father)) spent the entire party next to his grandfather's train set, and ignored all the guests, all the games and all the presents?
What is it with people* who need to turn every single birthday party for their small children into a full scale Production?????
What is it with people** who go to a small child's birthday party and just sit around eating dip and scones and ignore their children for 2 hours???
What is it with people who go to a small child's birthday party, sit around eating dip and scones while ignoring their children, and suddenly decide to take issue with a pair of boisterous twins who may or may not have been looking out for each other and being all twinny and in doing so may have pushed over some small(er) children in their desire to play together???
What is it with small children who whinge every time they're knocked over when they're patently in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time?
Is it any surprise that after a couple of weeks designed to test me to the nth degree, we turned up to a Small Child's (my nephew's*** 3rd) birthday party and I just fell apart. I almost had an anxiety attack - started shaking, the works... I was expecting just family. I could have handled family. It was so so so much worse. No polite conversation - just being ignored for 2 hours straight. Oh the joy of it all. You'd think I'd have got used to this kind of thing by now, have better coping mechanisms... but no. I don't.
Bugger.
* My brother and sister-in-law. MrB's brother and his wife. EVERY SINGLE BLOODY birthday party is themed up the wazoo. This one was 'Thomas the tank engine'. You don't need anymore detail. Trust me. It's just boils down to being All. About. Them. For a change.
** Friend of said In-Laws from their church. Actually from the youth group that MrB and his brother started, but MrB's brother turned into a phenomenon, thereby giving himself guru-status within the Sydney Diocese (and beyond). They've always been those painful Shire Christians... and now they've all been breeding. ARGH!
*** Is it schadenfreudelicious that said nephew (who's quite adorable (and more like his Uncle B than his father)) spent the entire party next to his grandfather's train set, and ignored all the guests, all the games and all the presents?
posted by actonb at 3:57 pm
25 Comments:
nice blog
Can you get me a photo of that train set?
I read this and had deja vu. The boisterous twins are usually mine. Whinge accepted.
Maybe they are just trying to top your pony party? Which would be hard as you had fairy bread. Did the Thomas the Tank Engine party has fairy bread?
Donnie - have you seen anyone about this illness of yours?
leilani - hey there - another twin mum! You're most welcome... There's a part of me that says 'oh, girls, don't be such bullies...' and part of me that goes 'Ha! Take that Baby OshKoshed Singleton!'
KR - Pathetic Fairy Bread! They'd tried to update the classic version by using nutella instead of butter. It just made it FERAL. (I can only assume as I refused to try it - but even the kids wouldn't eat it!)
Just trying to diffuse the tension, AB...
(I bet if Mr B was there, he would tell me more)
MrB (snr) has a massive train set, but it has been along time since it was all set up. He's very happy that finally one of his grandchildren shares his passion. He'd made a single oval track with some Thomas engine (the Red one) and my nephew sepent the entire party making the train go round and round. Then stop and go backwards. Then go forwards. He was fascinated!
Ahhhhh, see now you can't teach that, or train that (ha!). It is either in the blood, or not. Nephew would seem to have The Disease.
At least it makes present giving easy: Hell, I'm 40 later this year, and I'd still be happy with getting (another) train...
At the moment we're giving him Lego Thomas stuff. We shall be progressing to Hornby (or whatever) in time, don't you worry about that!
It's not a case of Mr B fathering a son vicariously through his nephew, is it?
Not at all. I'm the present-buyer. And MrB has never been into trains. He thought his Dad's set was kinda cool, but it never went beyond that. He looks at his nephews, then at at his daughters and is thankful. Whether he will continue to be so as the girls travel into puberty remains to be seen...
i can see a new song...
"My Party's too schadenfreudelicious for ya babe!"
The Princess is already displaying distinctly female tantrum tendencies, I swear. Too late to put her back now, though...
Sorry mex - try harder next time! That effort doesn't quite scan...
Don't try and tell me you're not loving every second of it Donnie...
You've seen those big blue eyes of hers? Abso-fucking-lutely!
How about "It's my party, and there'll be schadenfreude if I want to..."
Nah - that's too clunky.
'Schadenfreude Time C'mon!'
One thing I've noticed is that parents generally have birthday parties for themselves, the kids mostly find it a bit blase.
Actonb,
I quite like the big production, but just can't make a "theme" work....
Like I said over at my place in April, I like to out-source these days....
Also....
meme
meme
meme
meme
...starts slow clap.....
I've been limbering up hate-wise. I need to be race-ready for the meme.
my mum used to do the whole shebang. but in a cool way - never over the top. we had indoors snow ball fights with those styrophome balls, ginger bread biscuit necklaces... and the best was always the invitations. one year it was used roles of film and you pulled the film out of the cannister to reveal the invite details. so cool having a photographer mum.
Oh dearie me.
I don't get the full on birthday parties, but then I was thrilled when my mom made me a Sindy cake.
The picture still makes me laugh too.
Your girls? Bullies? Say it isn't so!
Sounds crap, you have my sympathy.
I enjoyed the story though, by reading it in a Ringo Starr accent.*
* does this joke translate at all elsewhere? I heard a horrific rumour that George Carlin voiced Thomas and Friends in America... next you'll be telling me Paul Hogan did the Aussie version...
Anyway.
No chris - Ringo does the ones over here. Or we just buy the BBC one, whatever. Oh I do luv me sum Ringooo...
W - It's not so. I hope. Against hope. I'm starting to excuse it as 'asserting themselves'...
Mex - see that would be cool. I just have isshews with my in-laws. And my elder nephew. I guess it's what it all boils down to.
er-hem. *cough*
Ringo only did the first dozen (-ish). After that, a very sorry Ringo sound alike was used... but it was used everywhere (in English, anyway - can't imagine Ringo pulling off a convincing French Thomas... Pardon Moi! Est Le Gros Controller!)
They did cut it to pieces and call it Shining Time Station in America, though.
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