We were invited to Anya’s classmate’s birthday party at Happy Willow two Sundays ago. I like that Anya is at that age where she’s happy to run off with her friends and play non-stop without us. But she HATES to participate in birthday party games!

A few days before the party, I talked to her about how she should try to take part like everyone else because it’s her friend’s party and it’s the nice thing to do. She said she’d try, but when the party hosts asked the kids to line up to go to another room for some games, she burst into tears and refused to go with them. SIGH. I don’t understand why she’s so reluctant to jump around to music and play games. Maybe she’s just very self-conscious. But it drives me crazy!!

She was making a scene with her crying so I took her outside and scolded her. But it was simply impossible to force her to take part. I was quite prepared to leave and drag her home but Adrian decided that we would compromise and let her stay if she’d just watch the proceedings. She was much happier after the games ended and she could hang out with her friends without being forced to play organised games.