A lesson learned from this birthday party

As I have mentioned in the past, my twins have been in the same class up until Kindergarten. They have always had the same friends so birthday party invites came to the both of them. They each take a gift.

We moved shortly after the boys started Kindergarten. So birthday invites didn't start until after we moved. They were in separate classes so of course they each had invites to different parties. For some reason this made me uncomfortable at the time. I felt like one of them was being left out. But the boys were ok with it, so I quickly got over it.

Fast forward. We have made lots of friends in the neighborhood and school. Most people know that the boys are twins and some will invite both of the boys to birthday parties. This isn't always ideal because I have been spending more money on gifts for all these parties.

Jay got an invite to a classmate's party (he also lives in the neighborhood). I responded that he would be attending a long time ago. It was to one of those jumpy house play parties. Lots of fun right?

Insert additional information, EE had a bad cough that lasted over 2 weeks. Now Jay and the baby have picked it up. It is an annoying cough but not much else with it.

Jay started mid-day on Sunday (party day) that he did not want to go to the party because he was not feeling well. He had also caught wind that we were going out to dinner after we dropped him off. We told him he made a commitment to go to the party and he was going. The husband then went on to tell him that if he went he would get his allowance when he got home.

We dropped Jay off and had a nice dinner at a burger place. I went in to pick up Jay and I spoke with the Mom who said that he was telling her that he didn't feel well the entire time. I looked at her and said he is fine and didn't know what else to say. When Jay was in the car I asked him what he was saying to the Mom at the party. He basically told her that he wasn't feeling well and that he had to come to the party in order to get his allowance.

Can you imagine what our reaction was? We were so unhappy with him. He didn't even realize how ridiculous he made us look. The husband had a talk with him regarding why it was wrong to share that information with other people. I had to do a little damage control. I wrote the Mom a note and explained that he has had a cough on and off but was fine. And told her I still had to prod them a little to do things on their own.

So the lesson we have learned is to be very careful what you say to and around your children. They are like sponges who absorb every detail and spill it when you least expect or want them to. They have no idea what they are saying and how it affects the people around them.