Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 19:43     Subject: You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
Anonymous wrote:I'm not excusing the late parents AT ALL. But I just can't imagine living a life where I get so worked up over 20 minutes. 20 minutes!!!


You seem pretty worked up over this and it was only 20 seconds of your time. Relax.
Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 19:38     Subject: You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
I'm not excusing the late parents AT ALL. But I just can't imagine living a life where I get so worked up over 20 minutes. 20 minutes!!!
Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 19:28     Subject: You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Now you know who NOT to invite next time.


If I was so horrified by 20 minutes with my son's friends, they wouldn't be his friends.


There is a huge difference between being in your own home and a parent is late for play date pick-up, and being at a noisy, crowded venue where the kids are actively trying to go here, there, and everywhere because the venue is literally designed to attract and distract them. Let’s be real. In either case, if you are going to be late, there is literally zero reason you can’t text. And you most certainly should apologize.


You collect the kids. You give them a job involved in the clean up. You amuse them with that job. 20 minutes with your kid’s friends should not be some kind of insurmountable burden.

Agree that parents shouldn’t be late, but c’mon.. you should already know the parents that are going to be late. I do. And I always accommodate foe those people because it’s not the kid’s fault. You can’t change it after it happens, so fuming for days is also stupid. If your kid likes the other kid, work around it. If they don’t, then why were they at your party to begin with?


At a trampoline park?? What kind of job do you imagine them doing? That's why you go to places like this. You pay to not clean up. I'd be annoyed having to entertain your kids for an extra 10 minutes just standing around and not being able to do anything.
Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 19:26     Subject: You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
It's funny that people are acting like OP doesn't like kids because she doesn't want to spend 20 more minutes with other people's kids. If those other people actually liked their own kids they would have picked them up on time. If you don't like spending time with your kids why would you assume others do? These must be the poorly behaved kids whose parents are desperate for any time away they can get. The hosts are probably over it too.
Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 19:16     Subject: You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Now you know who NOT to invite next time.


If I was so horrified by 20 minutes with my son's friends, they wouldn't be his friends.


There is a huge difference between being in your own home and a parent is late for play date pick-up, and being at a noisy, crowded venue where the kids are actively trying to go here, there, and everywhere because the venue is literally designed to attract and distract them. Let’s be real. In either case, if you are going to be late, there is literally zero reason you can’t text. And you most certainly should apologize.


You collect the kids. You give them a job involved in the clean up. You amuse them with that job. 20 minutes with your kid’s friends should not be some kind of insurmountable burden.

Agree that parents shouldn’t be late, but c’mon.. you should already know the parents that are going to be late. I do. And I always accommodate foe those people because it’s not the kid’s fault. You can’t change it after it happens, so fuming for days is also stupid. If your kid likes the other kid, work around it. If they don’t, then why were they at your party to begin with?


No one said it was an “insurmountable burden.” OP was just annoyed, and rightly so.
Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 19:12     Subject: You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Now you know who NOT to invite next time.


If I was so horrified by 20 minutes with my son's friends, they wouldn't be his friends.


There is a huge difference between being in your own home and a parent is late for play date pick-up, and being at a noisy, crowded venue where the kids are actively trying to go here, there, and everywhere because the venue is literally designed to attract and distract them. Let’s be real. In either case, if you are going to be late, there is literally zero reason you can’t text. And you most certainly should apologize.


You collect the kids. You give them a job involved in the clean up. You amuse them with that job. 20 minutes with your kid’s friends should not be some kind of insurmountable burden.

Agree that parents shouldn’t be late, but c’mon.. you should already know the parents that are going to be late. I do. And I always accommodate foe those people because it’s not the kid’s fault. You can’t change it after it happens, so fuming for days is also stupid. If your kid likes the other kid, work around it. If they don’t, then why were they at your party to begin with?
Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 19:03     Subject: You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
Wow I’m rarely shocked by dcum but I can’t believe how many of you don’t think being 20 minutes late is a big deal!

I would be so, so annoyed if it wasn’t an emergency and they didn’t at least give me a heads up before the party ended.
Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 18:58     Subject: Re:You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
OP, have you recovered from the trauma yet?
Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 18:46     Subject: You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Now you know who NOT to invite next time.


If I was so horrified by 20 minutes with my son's friends, they wouldn't be his friends.


There is a huge difference between being in your own home and a parent is late for play date pick-up, and being at a noisy, crowded venue where the kids are actively trying to go here, there, and everywhere because the venue is literally designed to attract and distract them. Let’s be real. In either case, if you are going to be late, there is literally zero reason you can’t text. And you most certainly should apologize.
Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 17:17     Subject: You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Now you know who NOT to invite next time.


If I was so horrified by 20 minutes with my son's friends, they wouldn't be his friends.


Yeah because that’s the point of OP’s post.
Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 17:14     Subject: You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
If they were friendly nice moms this wouldn't bother me at all. But if they were the queen bees who are too good to say hi to me but not too good to dump their kid in my care I'd be annoyed.
Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 17:07     Subject: You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
Anonymous wrote:Now you know who NOT to invite next time.


If I was so horrified by 20 minutes with my son's friends, they wouldn't be his friends.
Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 17:06     Subject: You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
Now you know who NOT to invite next time.
Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 16:00     Subject: You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:With several parents being late, I would assume unexpected traffic or something and try to be understanding, *however* if I was one of the late parents the onus would be on me to either text or call the host to let them know and to apologize, as soon as I realized I might be late. The host should not have to hunt down these parents and find out exactly how late they’re going to be.


There is no such thing as "unexpected traffic" anywhere in the greater DMV area. We all have Google Maps, Waze, and working knowledge that yes, things get busy, construction, etc.


Bullshit. You’ve never gotten stuck behind an accident that happened a few minutes earlier?


Yes, and with my 15-minute cushion, I was fine. Or if I were going to be a bit late, I would, gasp, TEXT THE HOST so no one was wondering if and when I'd be showing up.


I said in my post that, gasp, the onus was on the parent to text the host if it looked like they would be late. Learn to read, jfc
Anonymous
Post 07/01/2024 15:58     Subject: Re:You pick your kids up from a drop-off party ON TIME
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's so rude OP and I don't understand why the majoiry of posters here side with them. Call or txt the host if you are running more than a couple of minutes late for whatever reason, that is the polite thing to do.


I agree it is rude BUT three out of the boy eight kids had parents pick up 20 minutes late. That is unusual and there might be some reason that isn’t clear here.


Based on the careless, rude posters in this very thread, it sounds like the "it's no big deal" crowd is prevalent in this area, and enjoyed their extra 20 minutes of free babysitting to which they felt so entitled.


It IS no big deal.
I spent saturday with my friend who is dying and wasting away from stage 4 cancer and has two young kids. that is a big deal. being 15 minutes late to pick your kid from a party is NOT. get over it and get a life.


I hate when people post shit like this. Apparently no one can ever complain about inconveniences because some PP somewhere knows someone who is dying. Don’t we all?


DP. It's because of how angry the OP is. I mean she sounds like she's ready to punch someone. It's over the top. I think the response would be different if she even just took out the all caps words. Like stop shouting lady. This is an inconvenience, and not a bad one at that.


IDK, I guess you're a much more Chill Mom than me. Good job. I think it's the height of rudeness to be late to pick up your kid from a birthday party with very set time parameters. And I still think that, despite other bad things happening around me in the world.


If OP is this distressed by an extra 20 minutes with 3 of her child's friends, she shouldn't be hosting a party - anywhere. Again, not excusing the lateness but the reaction is over-the-top. Some parents are really really miserable and don't see it or think it's normal or something. Heads up - it's not normal to be this miserable as a parent. Time to rethink your life - not the parenting part obviously, but the other demands you are putting on yourself that you obviously can't handle, like hosting a large birthday party.


Let's review: OP successfully hosted a party where kids had fun. The failures are the late parents. How about don't take on commitments you obviously can't handle, like having your kids attend a large birthday party.


We are in agreement that those parents suck. But OP clearly can't handle her life either if this gets her that worked up. It's 20 minutes. I think the OP just doesn't like kids.