Birthdays
are a joyous time of recognition and affirmation. When you start preparation
for your kid’s birthday party each
year, you will want the day and the feeling to be special, exciting and
memorable. Of course you want the day to go off without any stress. Here are
three keys to make that happen.
Children
like to play
Like most
parents, I assigned chores to each of my children, according to their abilities
and limitations. On their birthday,
however, each gets to avoid that requirement, and is given a wider set of
options for activities on that day... Whatever they desired, within realistic
limitations, they can do. Maybe they wanted to go to the movies, or have
friends stay the night; whatever their wish, we try to make it come true. Giving
them the control of the day gives them the opportunity to consider all the
possibilities, and make good choices. This helps them each year to expand their
horizons, and to think about what they truly want in life.
Children
like surprises.
So that
their ‘Day’ is mysterious and special, always keep some element of surprise at
hand. To do this, I plan safe but exciting ideas that I use as a Prank for my kids, something to keep them on the edge of their seats, wondering
what the special day may bring. A couple of years back, I ‘Doctored up” a
calendar, eliminating the upcoming “DAY” from it... About a week out, however, when
my eight year old noted that her special day did not exist on the calendar. I
explained that the city had passed a law removing that day from the calendar
this year. You should have seen the concern in her eyes, as she tried to puzzle
through it. She checked with her older siblings, who were ‘in’ on the ruse, and
she went so far as to ask her teacher at school! When the day came, of course,
I had replaced the calendar, and she was so pleased that we didn’t miss ‘Her’
Day!
Children
like Games.
We have
quite a few family games in our hall closet, and each child has his or her own
list of favorites. On the day of each kid’s
birthday party, the selection of games we play is up to the “Special One”
that day. Some of our favorites are guessing games, with ‘rewards’ for right answers,
so we can use it as a learning time, too. Even if the games in particular are
not favored by the other children, we engage in them as a family. Of course,
another prank I devised for my kids entailed removing the interiors of all of their games, and
replacing them with pages of homework questions, but that is a story for
another day!
