The birthday party is the major social event of the year for small children.

Receiving an invite in the mail is the equivalent of a grown-up invitation to share space with ‘Brangelina’ and other A-listers at a fabulous VIP do.

The child party is an extravaganza like no other. You see the frazzled parents/hosts all dolled up in anticipation of the event going smoothly.

Of course this all falls apart the minute one child pokes tongues at another, or God forbid, has a food allergy.

The Z-Man’s faaaabulous cousin Summer, just turned seven amid the glitter ball and strobe lights of her disco party.

She and ten other besties tripped the light fantastic and drank pink lemonade from flashing martini glasses. They boogied and said “Daaaahling” a lot. Very fashionably droll.

And then there was the Z-Man (the only male amongst the giggling pink mini skirted lot).

He hung back for a while, sussing out the vibe, then quite deliberately strutted to the dance floor and did some moves that would put John Travolta to shame.

Being the youngest of the group, he was coddled and babied by the girls. I think he’s developing quite a taste for it.

As they say though, it’s all fun and games until somebody loses an eye and although both Z’s peepers are still thankfully intact, his spectacular tumble, face first into the corner of a table, left him dazed, bloodied, split lipped, chin scarred and hands full with the blubbering hysterical mess that I had become.

Oh yes, children of the noughties can pretty much handle anything that is thrown at them.

They take everything in their stride and after a few tears and an ice block, they are ready to get back to playing, or in Z’s case, tripping the light fantastic.

It’s us mums (or in some cases dads), who can’t handle seeing our little pumpkins in pain.

Seemingly together parents fall apart at the slightest sighting of a grazed knee or split chin (or is that just me?).

When our offspring are injured, we can’t bear it. I know I would rather feel the pain of the grazed knee than watch my boy going through it.

I was sharing old war stories with a girlfriend recently and we were both discussing our childhood pushbike injuries (and of scars we carry to this day), when we realised that although we both had horrible injuries, we learnt a lesson from our accidents and they were in some way character building.

At times, Z’s father gently alludes that perhaps my Desperate Housewives-style dramatics may not be helping.

He also says that scars get the girls and as I watch my little man with his ‘marked for life’ chin, I think he may be right.

The Z-Man still shakes his booty, the bigger girls still baby him and the mention of a party, has him air-guitaring with the finest.

Rock on.

Tina Shaw is the Publisher of the online magazine for solo parents, The Single Parent Bible www.singleparentbible.com.au and the Director of the Single Parents in Business network www.singleparentsinbusiness.com Tina was also the recipient of the 2006 Australian Home Based Business of the Year in the personal services category and is the author of the book How to Start a Business for Less Than $100 www.biznessbasics.com