Spent the day preparing for and running a birthday party for my 10 year old daughter. It was a good plan well executed. 14 guests. A few parents staying around. All at the public swimming pool with the sea breeze cooling us down from 33 degrees Celsius to something like 27. One of the pool lifeguards was contracted for an hour to provide entertaining water games for the girls.
Ennis was in charge of supervision. I was in charge of food – water melon, cold drinks, potato crisps, sugar buns, lamingtons, grapes, and of course the birthday cake. It was too windy to light the candles but hey that didn’t stop my daughter ‘blowing them out’.
As the parents arrived after 4 hours, it reminded me of earlier times running children and youth programmes. Grateful parents. Sharing in the delight and sometimes despair of these children. The sense of responsibility for the well being of a peer group. The ethical requirements regarding boundaries. Making friends with whole families. Connecting with other people – like the woman at the counter who looked after the cake and provided a cloth for wiping down the tables. The sense of team work and a project completed with satisfaction.
We should have more parties.