Day 178 - Baby Zoe

Thought of the day: We attended a kid's birthday party in a park today.  It was a beautiful day to have an outdoor party.  Adults talked while the kids played and everybody had a blast.  The only problem was that the wind made it challenging to light the birthday candles!  A birthday party provides a nice opportunity for the parents to socialize, especially since the same group of parents tend to meet in several birthday parties in a year and sometimes year after year.  Unfortunately as the kids get older, these parties  turn more and more into kids only parties and most parents would just drop off the kids and come back when the party is almost over.  It's a pity when a party morphs from a social event into a free day care.  If you have been to a packaged birthday party, you'll find that the hosting facility doesn't usually try very hard to accommodate the adults - oftentimes the parents are just expected to stand around when the kids sit down to have cake and such.  It often feels awkward to be there as an adult and maybe that's why most parents decide not to stay.  I wonder if this is a common way of doing things in all cultures or if it's just another symptom of our kid-centric society.

Photo of the day:

Meet baby Zoe - this birthday party gave us the opportunity to finally meet her.