I really don’t remember having birthday parties when I was young. That’s not to say that I didn’t. I just don’t remember them.
I know I had at least one party during my primary school days because I still recall mum wondering why I had invited Murray Lorimer. She knew all my friends and she’d never heard of Murray before. I know I invited him but I can’t even remember whether he was at the party because I don’t remember the party. It was a long time ago.
Parties these days are a little different. They’re a major event. If your five year old doesn’t remember the $4000 you spent on their birthday I guess you’d make sure that there were enough photos of the day so that they could never forget. Yep … that’s right … $4000 for a five year old’s birthday party.
Parents are going to great lengths to pull off large-scale events, some worth thousands of dollars, for their beloved children, says director of Bash Events Alison Chibnall.
“We did a party that cost about $4000; that one was for a five-year-old,” she says.
“I think the cheapest one we’ve done was about $1200.
”It is almost like parents feel they need to outdo the other parents. Each party needs to be bigger, better and have more.” – News.com.au
I do wonder if it’s about providing something wonderful for their children or more about how the parents are perceived by others. Have you felt pressured to put on a big party for your children?
Peer pressure doesn’t end when you reach a certain age. It’s always there.
Maybe you’ve felt pressured in other ways to live up to the expectation of others. You may not even have children but there are still lots of ways that we feel we have to live up to the standards that others are setting.
I’d love to hear about how you feel pressured to do things a certain way or focus your attention on certain things. When have you been swayed to go down a certain road because it was an expectation from peers, parents, children, co-workers or someone else?
Do you regret actions you took at some stage because you felt pressured?
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