Some things kids just shouldn't do...

I have kids, but come on guys... there are just some things they shouldn't do. And I'm not talking about staying up late, eating junk food or driving the minivan. I'm talking about serious stuff here!

1. Kids should not be allowed to record your voicemail/answering machine message. I know I'll probably strike a chord here, but come on, really?! "Hi. This is Suzy. My mom and dad can't come to the phone right now..." Is that really the message you want played when your doctor calls, or when you're waiting for a call back about a job interview. I know when I get those messages I hate leaving one because for some reason I still feel like there's a 3-year-old on the other end writing down my message to give to Mom and Dad.

2. This is an even bigger pet peeve... Tonight we were invited to a birthday party for a friend's daughter. Problem? The daughter (did I mention she was turning 7?) wrote out the invitation. Ok, it was cute. But when you're driving down the road looking for 178 on the mailbox, and the actual address of the party is 1780, this could pose a problem! Couldn't mom proofread the invitation before it went out to the whole class? Cars were driving past the house 3 times before they figured out where to stop. Lord knows how many just turned around and went home.

At the same party I listened to 2 moms say they would have RSVP'd, but the number they called went to some old lady who insisted she wasn't having a party.

And when it comes to writing out invitations, in case there's any confusion... The lines on the invitation should be filled out like this:

For: (name of the birthday child goes here)

This is not the space to write who the invitation is for! Seriously?! I can't tell you how many my kids have brought home and they say "For: Sam". When I ask who gave him the invitation, he has no recollection, or it was put in his mailbox at school. It's bad enough when the kids have written it out that way, but honest-to-God, I've gotten some written by the parents like that!!!

This concludes my Martha Stewart etiquette on children. Thank you.