Why can't you say his daughter was rude to your kid?

mrsconn23

Dear Prudence,

What should I do when my friend’s kid gets older and turns into a mean girl? I’m the mother of an early elementary-age student, who plays with a group of kids on our street ranging from two years younger than my child to middle school aged children. I’m super friendly with most of the parents, especially the husband of one of my neighbors (I’m also friends with his wife, she knows and is cool with it, as is my husband). Well, their daughter has turned into a nasty mean girl. Saying anything to my friend is pointless, he’s not really attuned to his kind of behavior, and I am not close enough to his wife to talk to her about it. I have witnessed this behavior many times lately and have told my child to stay away from her. I have no idea how to explain this to my youngish child. My friend and I don’t talk much about our kids or parenting, preferring other topics, but I’m not sure I should continue the friendship? I have no idea how to handle this.

—My Neighbor Is Raising Another Regina George

banana468

"The girls are in the middle of an issue right now so I'm going to keep Kelly home and away from Brenda for a while.  I watched Brenda say some things that hurt Kelly's feelings and for now I think it's best if Kelly had some alone time with the family or maybe her other friends Donna and Dylan." 

levioosa

I mean, you’re friendly with the wife so why can’t you reach out? If I was mom I’d want to know. There’s always the risk she gets defensive but at the end of the day the result with space between the kids will probably be the same. Best case maybe other kid calms down if mom can get on board. 

mrsconn23

Kind of beside the point, but why does LW need to add the caveat that their husband and his wife are "OK" with their friendship? 

climbingsingle

banana468 said:

"The girls are in the middle of an issue right now so I'm going to keep Kelly home and away from Brenda for a while.  I watched Brenda say some things that hurt Kelly's feelings and for now I think it's best if Kelly had some alone time with the family or maybe her other friends Donna and Dylan." 

Loving you for the 90210 references! 

MyNameIsNot

mrsconn23 said:

Kind of beside the point, but why does LW need to add the caveat that their husband and his wife are "OK" with their friendship? 

This and just dismissing that dad "is not really attuned to kid's behavior" has a lot of weird sexist vibes. He's a parent. You can tell him that his kid is being an asshole.