Meltdown Strategies

When we first had our daughter, we enjoyed taking her out with us whenever we had a party or gathering of friends.  One night, I noticed that some of our friends who had 2 children would always leave any gathering or party about 30 minutes to an hour before us.  They left while their children were still perfectly well-behaved and I never understood why they were leaving so early.

That was when I discovered that there are two schools of thought on exiting a party with your child:

1) Hang out and enjoy yourself until your child reaches their limit and crumbles to the floor in a crying catastrophic mess.  At that point of complete meltdown, you thank your hosts and quickly exit the party, happy to have survived long enough to enjoy some food and adult conversation.

2) Hang out and enjoy yourself for a period of time.  About half an hour before you anticipate your child's meltdown, utilize the "preemptive strike" strategy and exit quietly and graciously.

I am sure everyone has a guess which strategy my husband and I tend to choose, but I am curious if we are alone?

Mom of the year ...