Dear Dáithí: How do I put a stop to having to stay at class birthday parties? 

When did this become the norm? I really don't want to spend two hours at a child's birthday party

There are two types of parents at these parties; parents who stay for the whole thing and those who drop and go.

Dear Dáíthí,

My child is going into senior infants in primary school and has been invited to multiple birthday parties over the past year. The vast majority of these were for his new classmates — there has been at least one party a month, and sometimes two or three in one weekend alone!