I was drawn to a story today on the BBC website about a school teacher in Bath who has decided his pupils must invite the entire class to their party and not exclude any class member. Great, more kids at my parties and more parents to impress for future work! Actually this may not be the best idea in hindsight.

What about the bully boy that nobody likes and will more than likely thieve your superman toy and anything else he (or she) fancies? What about the stinky kid that never washes and will engulf the party with a great aura of body odor? But what about that poor stinky kid that never gets invites to parties? Surely his social exclusion will leave him a social outcast in later life?  This could be a wonderful social initiative. Oh crikey this is a difficult one.
My thoughts? It’s a bad idea. From my experience as a child (when everything was just fields and commodore 64’s) there were numerous people I would have hated to come round my house. It’s a fact that some children  just don’t like other children and never will, inviting them over to play musical bumps and watch Ozzy Wizzpop perform his magic show for the children wont be a good idea.

In some respects the teachers idea will eliminate any children being left out and prevent that horrible feeling of being unpopular as a child and they are to be commended for their appreciation of children’s fragile emotions.  However one cannot eliminate social rejection amongst children, this will occur in all social gatherings with children and I feel this will cause more problems than it will solve.

Heres the link to the original story