Five-Year-Old Plymouth Boy Gets a Bill for Missing School Friend's Birthday Party

Words cannot express how shocked I am right now.

First of all, since it was the other kid's birthday, his parents should be the ones paying for everything, and if they can't afford it, then tough squash. Tone it down a little so they can afford it.

Second of all, the mother should have contacted the boy's parents directly, not put an invoice in his bag.

The invoice and other images can be found in the source link below.

• Source: The Herald
• Published: January 19, 2015

 

I got annoyed by the point of reading the article when they added the facebook messages. Come on, they're 5-year old children for crying out loud. A child is allowed to decide whether he wants to go to a birthday party or his parents. Not too mention, I work with children all the time who come to me complaining that others say they won't be their friends anymore for whatever silly reason; it's really not something to get worked over. I say the birthday kid's parents should just deal with the fact that a child didn't show up and not make a big deal out of this. Oh yeah, if this somehow does make it into court, I'm going to laugh at the waste of time it'll be

 

You would be amazed... Seriously, the parents these days will get pissed about anything in the U.S. At any age. They will drag the other family to court over it, too. It's kinda sad, if it happened when I was growing up my mom would tell the person to shove it where the sun doesn't shine.

They really shouldn't drag the children into this, if it was anyone's fault (and I'm not pointing fingers here.) It's the parents of Alex making sure the day was available. I'm not saying things come up at the last minute, like an emergency or something, but they had time to make sure the grandparents didn't want to see the kids. But that's minor to how blown out of proportion this has become. Especially over something like a birthday party. Especially to school where it's hard enough for these kids and can get horrible very quickly for any kid. (I grew up as a bullied kid, so I know how quickly it spirals. Especially if it comes to the point where parents refuse the kid to participate in anything later on.) Let it drop and let the kid grow up and be his own kid.

I went to a sweet sixteen party where my best friend had a limo rented for the night. Other families were told in advance they were planning it and asked to help contribute to such a large expense. (I wasn't asked because of my family situation. The only reason I know the other families knew was because they were waiting for us when we dropped by. My parents had no idea until I got home and hollered for them to check outside.) They asked for the money before the limo was rented and made sure that it was all settled. It was a fantastic night and unforgettable, but they didn't charge me for the limo ride even though I had as much fun as they did and didn't help with the expenses. It's ridiculous.

 

This made me laugh, because even now that's basically my answer, give or take different variations depending on the day. At this point I'd basically say "Oh, the child wanted to be with his grandparents, you guys made the mistake, that's alright, all is forgiven." Seriously, who's being the child about this? I thought parents were supposed to set an example for their children. What kind of example is this setting I wonder?

 

A birthday party isn't supposed to be a money worry... it's supposed to be celebrating your kids birthday with their friends. That's a sure way to ruin it for your kid and theirs. Why are people so petty? I doubt the parents of the party kid desperately needed the money otherwise they wouldn't have an expensive party. Also, so what if a kid doesn't show up? Their loss, the money is paid for.

 

I remember reading this in a newspaper somewhere. Like the parents, I laughed a little cause I thought it was a joke. Now that I know that it's legit, I can't help but feel like the whole thing is stupid. So what if they lost a little money cause a kid didn't go? Even if he went, they still wouldn't get any money back, so what's the point of it all?