What’s that you say? Dunning a 5 year old for a no-show to a birthday party? What nerve.
Social media was abuzz with the news of the parent who sent home an invoice to a parent whose child ditched her child’s birthday party at the last minute when mom realized she had double-booked her kid, and they had to go to grandma’s.
Twitter wags couldn’t get enough. The Toms, Matts, and Rozs on the morning news at CBS, ABC, and NBC were wagging, gabbing, and squeaking galore about the incredible, (heavy emphasis on incredible) chutzpah that a parent dared to put an invoice in the ditching child’s backpack for the no-show and then added insult to injury by threatening small claims court for the ditcher’s parent to pay up or else.
At first I agreed
“What nerve,” I said to myself. “How low can you go? An invoice? Really?”
But then I thought about it a little more.
I’ve thrown a few parties in my time and have experienced the no-shows at the last minute. And I’m sad to say I’ve been guilty of being a no-show myself. But is it just about the money or is there more to this moral madness than meets the pocket?
It’s not the money — it’s the commitment. Your word is your bond, a handshake is all you need, a promise is a promise.
When you take a good look at the whole megillah, it isn’t chutzpa, it is a life lesson to be learned. Today, the old adages are just that — old. Cute embroidered sayings on pillows in the guest room.
Unfortunately, the only way to insure compliance to any commitment in this new millennium is to back it up by a 15-page contract and signatures in triplicate on the dotted line.
The reality is that the ditchee is really providing one heck of an invaluable life lesson to the ditcher. Sadly, we don’t teach our children to honor a commitment and honor a handshake. Especially when the wind blows a better opportunity our way.
I hate to say it, but this is the broken-window lesson of life. If we don’t teach our children to honor a commitment at age 5, then how do we expect them to honor their commitments when they become adults?
Today the ditched party, tomorrow a ditched job or a ditched marriage. Everything is disposable, a handshake is meaningless, and a promise is not a promise anymore.
It all rolls into one.
Well that’s bull-cookies.
It’s not the principal of honoring a commitment to attend a birthday party that is important. It is the life lesson you learn to conduct yourself with honor, dignity, respect, and trust.
Not for Nuthin™, but teaching a child to live up to a commitment today is ensuring a responsible, honorable adult of tomorrow. It’s fixing the window long before the cracks appear. To the parent who allowed the child to ditch, shut up, pay up, and learn some life lessons yourself.
