A Sydney school has banned students from handing out party invites in the playground. Photo / Getty Images
A Sydney school has banned students from handing out party invites in the playground. Photo / Getty Images
A Sydney school's decision to ban students from handing out birthday party invitations has infuriated parents across the country, with many claiming the move is "bubble wrapping kids".
Mosman Public School established the ban on party invitations in an effort to avoid hurting the feelings of students who were not invited, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Instead, parents have been instructed to "covertly collect email addresses" from their intended guests and send the invitations electronically.
They have also been told to encourage their children not to discuss the imminent festivities during class time so any uninvited children wouldn't hear about them.
The school administration allegedly established the ban after a child became upset when they were left off of a guest list to a classmate's party.
While some people agreed the move was important to protect kids, others were unimpressed by it.
"How bloody ridiculous," one woman wrote on social media. "Missing out is part of life, and we need to teach these kids how to cope and deal with real-life situations."
Another women said the school's ban was "creating a generation of sooks".
"So kids aren't allowed to miss out now?" one person asked. "Well, aren't they in for a rude shock when they grow up."
Other parents insisted on teaching kids "resilience" through situations like not being invited to a party, saying it was character building for kids to learn they won't always win at everything or get picked first.
"We need to start building up children's resilience instead of letting our children become entitled," a commenter wrote.
"As parents, it is your job to educate your children that, in reality, you can't always get what you want."
"So stupid. Kids Need to learn about disappointment and sadness. They are normal emotions that we all feel and it's important to experience these to a degree, in order to become healthy well-adjusted adults. Over entitlement is very concerning," another said.
An Australian school has banned physical party invites to avoid causing distress among students. Photo / Getty Images
Some parents revealed they distributed their child's party invitations discreetly so no one was the wiser.
One mum said she gets her kid's teacher to slip the invites into the select guest's homework folders.
"Unfortunately, it's unrealistic to invite the whole class, especially when your child probably doesn't play with 50 per cent," she said.
Many teachers also weighed in on the debate, with one saying she asks parents to give her the invitations because she knows the impact it can have on kids.
"Sadly, some kids miss out on every single party … sometimes people forget what it's like to be four, five or six-years-old," she said.
