The children where I work have been going through a phase of having birthday parties involving their entire school class. I think part of the reason for this is that whoever's birthday it is gets around 30 presents. A culture of competition is developing and it is becoming the focus of the youngsters' social lives. There are two girls who are not able to take part as they cannot afford the gifts and they are becoming very isolated and miserable. I want to persuade the parents to stop this but don't know how to.
This certainly has become something of a trend of late and I suspect only serves to reinforce the sense of entitlement that is fast becoming an unpleasant facet of today's youth culture. But going back to smaller parties solves nothing as they immediately create division and exclusion within the group. What's more, while many parents may fear not doing their best for their children, they are equally likely to be the victims of "bullying" by their children to provide the same as their friends. So challenging parental practice in issues such as this is by no means a cut-and-dried affair.
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