"You know it's the end when..."

[Tyrion Cheddar]

My younger sister has two daughters. The eldest will be nine in August, and as my sister was planning her birthday party with her earlier today, she announced that she needed a dance floor and a tent because her party "needs to be the playground buzz" of the coming school year.

I'm still picking myself up off the floor.

:shocked::out:

[Danik 2016]

:D! I thought the bunker was being raided!

Where do children birthday partys usually take place in US?
Here the familys often go to children´s buffet´s. The children love thematic partys(Cinderella, Snow White, Hello Kitty, etc. for girls) and there is a big cake, a lot of food and music.
Probably the best friends of your niece had dance floors and tents on their birthday party too.
I didn´t quite get the point. Are you shocked at the party itself or that you have been invited to it?

[Tyrion Cheddar]

:I didn´t quite get the point. Are you shocked at the party itself or that you have been invited to it?

No, no, it's the disturbing precociousness of kids this age now, already worried about the kind of social and ego issues which previously didn't start until adolescence, with additionally that strong flavor of Kardashian inspired concern that others in one's peer group perceive one with a certain awe and envy, i.e., recognize you as a celebrity. Hence my niece is concerned about creating sufficient "buzz" about herself. It's really kind of unsettling--she's not yet nine. Welcome to the modern world.

[Helga]

I do think you see this more in girls than boys, that is at least my experience. My son is 10 and he does not show this behaviour but I see it in my friends kids from time to time, even a 4 year old puts her best leg forward for a photo and shows her profile rather than just laugh at the camera (or hide from it as I did). I feel like the only person on Earth who has never taken a 'selfie'.

One thing that bugs me a lot is how kids seem to have everything. I bought a playstation 4 after saving up for a long time (and with the money I got when I was 30) and I bought one game, they are incredibly expensive here so I bought a lego superhero game and me and my son love it. After a few days a friend of my son asked why he only had one game... He couldn't really answer, but for his birthday over a month later I got him one game and his dad another and he asked my brother who lives in England to buy one too cause they are cheaper there, no one can judge him for lack of games now.

[Danik 2016]

In fact I am quite used to this modern world, that´s why I wasn´t at all astonished. I don´t have children of my own, but I have been teacher to children of 10 and 11. That´s how things go today, society starts at school, with the children comparing presents and partys with their friends.
But I find the concerns of you both very healthy. If the children get everything they want early in life they may get very frustrated if later life doesn´t confirm that they are a celebrity or that they can just go out and buy everything they want.