Rowdy kids are the bogeyman of many social events.

We only have to look at the phenomenon of child-free weddings to see that a lot of people can’t imagine anything worse than dealing with children running wild and disrupting all of the planned celebrations. Up to a point, we have to accept that any event with kids involved is likely to be a little unpredictable, but it is also not fair on adults and even other kids not to control the very worst behavior.

As a parent, you will likely be subjected to children whose actions you do not necessarily approve of, for the sake of allowing your own kids to have a social life. The difficulty comes from trying to manage both them and their own parents without overstepping or offending anyone. It is just another one of those annoying responsibilities that come with parenthood, as if raising children were not challenging enough. The likes of playdates and birthday parties require careful management to make sure that they don’t end up in tears, and even then, there is no guarantee.