Difficult children at your party? Here's how you can handle it.

I performed at a birthday party last weekend.  Made awesome balloon sculptures.  Led the kids in Jedi training.  Everybody laughed.  Everybody had a good time.  Well, almost everybody.  There was a young man at this party.  I'm going to call him Theo.  Theo was what many would describe as a bad kid.  Wouldn't follow directions.  Kept messing up my equipment.  Picked a fight with 2 other kids.  Tried to throw water on the birthday boy.  This was all in the first 10 minutes.


Now before your shackles go up and you think: bad kid, let me tell you: he's not.  And believe you me, this is the child I used to dread seeing at a birthday party I was performing at.  And of course, since I focused my energies that way, that was what I manifested.


Theo is not a bad kid.  Theo simply needs attention.  And now when I see a Theo at a birthday party, I don't get upset.  I don't worry.  Because I know Theo is going to be an integral part of this birthday party's success.  


What do you do as a responsible adult with a "Bad Kid?"  Here's my advice:

1. Focus on what they want.  I don't mean hand them the power tools.  What do they really want?  Attention.  One book that really influenced me when I was younger was "How to Win Friends and Influence People."  Here's a quote: "The only way on earth to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it."  They want attention.  Give it to them in a positive way.  One thing I like to do is to put the difficult child in charge of an important task, like making sure all the children sit criss-cross, applesauce, or letting me know when everyone needs a water break
2. Stand next to the child.  Another thing I do at parties is to make sure I am standing right near the child who is misbehaving.  I'll ignore minor comments, but I will make sure they know I'm watching them; I'm only two feet away, so they know it!  And again, they're getting the attention they want.
3. Limited choices.  If things get bad with a particular child, and sometimes they do, give them two choices:  Do you want to participate, or do you want to take a break.  Most often they want to participate, so its ok to let them know that this is the behavior expected at the birthday party.  

I hope this helps.  Most of the children I've met at birthday parties are willing to cooperate.  They just need a little guidance on how.  Best of luck!

Jim Manning

Birthday Party Expert, Celebration Coach, National Family Speaker 

1-888-33-JUNGLE (toll free)

Email@JungleJimBoston.com

FREE Birthday Party Tools at www.JungleJimBoston.com