I've got a question for you...

....well quite a few really. But it all stems from this one. If your child was invited to a party would you reply to let the host know? Would you turn up with your child unannounced on the day? Would you leave a 5 year old child in the home of someone you didn't know?

I've been pondering these questions since Emily's party. I invited 20 children out of which I had 16 replies (3 of which were no). That left 4 I was unsure of on party day. I think this is extremely rude. 3 of these never turned up but the 4th did. His mum, who I've never met before, just left him with me and I didn't know this poor child. (He was ok as the children are in the same class). Several other parents just left their children with me. I don't mind but I don't know all the parents or the children.

It's bothered me that in this day and age of media coverage of children going missing/being abused people leave their children with strangers. Ok, you can be fairly sure that if your child is going to a party there will be other adults around but I certainly wouldn't leave my children with people I didn't know. And I certainly would have replied to let the host of the party know if my child was attending or not, and would not turn up on the day, if I hadn't replied, assuming it was ok.

Am I being old and grumpy? Or am I not the only one who thinks this? And also, is it surprising that children get smeared with the labels of being bad mannered when their parents don't teach them basic manners? Let me know what you think. I'd be interested to hear.