Navigating who to invite to your child's birthday party isn't always easy, as it can be hard to know whether you should invite their whole school class or keep it small and let them invite a few friends.
It's fair to say that no child will get invited to every single party in their school life, but one mum was left fuming when her eight-year-old son was the only child in his class not to be invited to one boy's party - for a very cruel reason.
The mum explained her son's classmate handed out all his party invitations while at school, but purposefully avoided giving one to her son before "smirking" at him and telling him he didn't "make the list".
According to the Daily Mail, the mum wrote on an online parenting forum: "My eight-year-old son came home crying yesterday because another student, M, handed out birthday party invitations to all of his classmates except for him.
"When my son asked M why he didn't get an invitation, M apparently replied with a big smirk: 'I guess you didn't make the list'.
"The boys get along fine when they're together by themselves, but M can be a bit mean to my son when other kids are around."
The mum explained that she's now worried her son might be "rejected and excluded" by his other classmates as the boy referred to as M has "signalled" that it's okay to ignore him.
She added: "I worry that it will get even more difficult for my son now that M has signalled to the other classmates that my son is to be rejected and excluded.
"It just hurts my heart to think about M and some of the other kids rubbing this party in my son's face every day at school for the next few weeks and him feeling rejected and left out."
In an attempt to get the issue resolved, the mum decided to speak to a teacher about the school's invitation policy, and was told that a new rule would be implemented that would prevent kids from giving out invites at school unless every classmate is invited.
Commenters on the mum's post were quick to rally their support for her, with many encouraging her to try and use the heartbreaking situation to "build resilience" in her son.
One person said: "This is a teachable moment so that he has empathy for others. My kid knows how it feels to be left out and he is often the first one to step in and defend other kids who are getting bullied."
While another added: "I would focus my attention on building resilience in your son, and try to teach him that there will always be mean people around, but his job is to cultivate enough self-worth that it won't impact him so much in the future."
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