Adults often measure each other by their net worth, but children have their own currency: popularity. I witnessed an interesting phenomenon during Kindergarten lunch today. A student was checking his own status on the barometer of his popularity among his classmates. He stood up at lunch and yelled out, “Who wants to come to my house?” It was not an actual invitation, and his mother would have been horrified to see 20 children lined up to go home with her at the end of the day, but the boy was gratified to see that every hand in the class was raised and several were offering suggestions of what they would do if they were lucky enough to be chosen for such an honor.
Likewise, an invitation to a birthday party or play date gives the issuer an enormous amount of power. Such an invitation or the retraction of such an invitation can make or break a child’s day and their standing within the class social structure. The most dreaded curse of a young child’s life can be the simple phrase, “You’re not invited to my party anymore!” A child will go to great lengths to avoid receiving that pronouncement.