Many parents try to go above and beyond every year for their kids’ birthday parties. While this is not really a bad thing, many psychologists from Psychology Today recommends not going overboard for each and every birthday.
Birthdays should be recognised, but milestones should be celebrated royally. Children have been misled by having a party for every birthday, they have started counting their age by how many parties they have.
Find out why psychologists advise against celebrating every one of your child’s birthdays.
What the psychologists says
Most psychologist say that having a party for every birthday is not necessary. Children need to learn how to distinguish the difference between age even when they do not have a birthday party.
Having an elaborate affair on the major milestones is acceptable, while having a small family get together should be done for smaller unimportant birthdays. Birthdays should be recognised as an achievement your child has reached, that does not mean that parents have to spend a fortune on them.
Commercialisation of birthdays
Children learn from social media about how birthdays are celebrated and set expectations about how theirs should be celebrated. This is not a good thing, because all social media shows them is that they have to be the richest and have the biggest birthday celebration around the block. This is a clear case of trying to get parents to spend more money unnecessarily.
Recognising a birthday
A parent should always recognise a child’s birthday even if it is a small family gathering at home, especially if they are a small child. Unfortunately, it’s natural for a small child to measure their age by how many birthday parties they have had.
Remember to go all out for milestones — they are special!
Marking the milestone
Ideally, milestones in a child’s life should be recognised and made memorable. But you don’t have to spend a fortune to make your child’s milestone memorable.
With a little imagination, you can create a beautiful birthday party on a budget. Nobody needs to know that you did most of the things yourself.
We can’t stress enough how important it is for parents to always acknowledge their child’s birthday. Although, deciding on whether to have a party for each birthday every year is their own decision. There are many parents in today’s economy that can not afford to have a birthday party each year.
There has to be a medium found to help children understand the significance of a birthday without spending a fortune on them. It might be smart to sit down with your kids and have a talk about being responsible and considering the less fortunate people in the world.
Do your kids have a birthday party for every birthday? If they don’t, how did you convince them not to have a party for every birthday? Share with us by leaving a comment below!