What rule regarding parties at Princess Charlotte's school is raising eyebrows?
Keep watching for one way royal kids really are just like the rest of us.
Every school district has its own policies regarding whether kids' parties are held in or
outside of class. For instance, in 2016, an Illinois school district
banned all food from class celebrations — from decadent treats to even healthy snacks.
The movement toward curbing food at school parties aims to curb kids'calorie intake,
given an increasing obesity problem in the U.S. Meanwhile, it seems another popular
policy around kids' parties involves banning handing out invitations in class full stop.
On Reddit, a parent vented their frustration with an invitation ban like this,
worrying that their child's social life would suffer. Asking for advice, the parent said,
"I just want to help my kid's social life by throwing a party. There's no school directory,
so it would be difficult to locate and communicate with the appropriate parents."
One teacher shared about the rationale behind the policy, saying,
"I do not have a problem with a student handing out birthday party invitations in class provided
that all students in the class are invited. I do have a problem with students using my class to
invite only part of the class to a party. As more and more students do this during the school year,
it quickly becomes clear to everybody who are the popular kids and who are the outcasts. It
is difficult for kids to know they are being left out at the best of times."
The instructor's explanation seems to be behind a similar
policy at Princess Charlotte's school all the way across the pond in England.
As royal watchers know, Princess Charlotte formerly attended Willcocks Nursery School.
She then followed her big brother Prince George to Thomas's School in Battersea,
which as The Sun explains, is a very desirable school in South London.
The school may be an established institution,
having been around for 40 years, but when it comes to kids' parties, administrators are
keeping with the times. As Express recently reported, at Princess Charlotte's school,
instructors are working to avoid the exclusion of any of their students
and have employed a potentially-controversial measure. Royal reporter Jane Moore explained,
"There's a policy that if your child is having a party, unless every child in the class is invited,
you don't give out invites in class."
The outlet further reports the focus in the school is on kindness,
reinforced with school-wide signage, and with Moore sharing another potentially
eyebrow-raising tidbit that enforces this creed. She said,
"They don't encourage you to have best friends."
Again, this apparently discourages any student from feeling left out.
Not everyone agrees with the idea of promoting inclusion via such extreme measures,
but we must consider that nowadays there are ways to hand out invitations other
than in class — for instance, via email. Then, no one feels excluded.
And to put this policy into perspective, we don't even know what Princess Charlotte is
planning to celebrate her upcoming seventh birthday, which isn't until May. Will she be
having a party with friends from school? Perhaps not, given COVID-19 concerns.
Looking back upon recent birthdays in the Cambridge household, it seems the party invitation
policy may not even impact little Charlotte. For her sixth birthday, the mini-royal enjoyed a
small get together with one other family. The year before she was on lockdown — so no party at all!
And consider that for her brother George's most recent birthday in July,
Queen Elizabeth Zoomed him and sent a gift — and by all accounts, he had a very low-key day,
enjoying handmade cards from his siblings, according to Us Weekly. Charlotte's younger
brother, Louis, meanwhile, commemorated his special day in April with a bike ride,
according to Vanity Fair. No invitations needed for a bike ride.
We do know that unless Charlotte is inviting every child in her class to her birthday party,
her parents won't be sending invitations into school! Here's hoping Kate has the
parents' email addresses. Or that perhaps they have plans
to celebrate with every single child in the class — with no exceptions, of course.
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