A heartbroken mother has shared the negative impact being excluded from a class party had on her son.
Taking to Reddit, the mother said her son was left ‘in tears’ after his classmate handed out birthday invitations to all of his classmates except for him.
“When my son asked M why he didn’t get an invitation, M apparently replied with a big smirk: ‘I guess you didn’t make the list,’” she wrote.
The mother continued: “The boys get along fine when they’re together by themselves, but M can be a bit mean to my son when other kids are around.”
She is now worried that her son might be ‘rejected and excluded’ by other students.
“I worry that it will get even more difficult for my son now that M has signalled to the other classmates that my son is to be rejected and excluded.”
The mother also said that it hurts her heart to think that the students were rubbing the birthday party in her son’s face every day to make him feel rejected.
The mother ended up speaking to a teacher about their invitation policy and the school quickly assured her that they would implement a ‘no invitations at school unless the whole class is invited’ rule.
Many parents sympathized with the mother, with one person commenting: “This is a teachable moment so that he has empathy for others. My kid knows how it feels to be left out and he is often the first one to step in and defend other kids who are getting bullied.”
Another wrote: “I would focus my attention on building resilience in your son, and try to teach him that there will always be mean people around, but his job is to cultivate enough self-worth that it won’t impact him so much in the future.”
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments section and SHARE this story with your friends and family!
I think it’s an absolute disgrace, the parents of that birthday boy should be talked to and like you say, if they don’t invite the entire class, then it should’ve just been sent home privately with the teacher just putting an invitation in the kids bag or whatever and not let the other kids see it! Absolutely a disgrace on those parents that sent in the invitations they are definitely to blame! They knew that the little boy would be beside himself! Why don’t we leave her son out of the next birthday party that all the kids will get invited to except him and see how they feel or how he feels I’m sure he won’t be feeling so great!
For Kindergarten and primary grades my grandson’s school had an “invitations for everyone” policy. By the 3rd grade boys had all-boy parties. Girls had “all-girl” parties.
Inclusion is VERY important for the very young ones. As well, my grandson’s school is very culturally and racially diverse. This way NO child gets left out for ANY reason.