Group Therapy: Parents are friends. Kids are not.

Getting involved in other people’s friendships is always hard. Moreso when a third person tells you to intervene.

Mamamia reader Bonnie* writes:

You and another school Mum are starting to become friends. She is extremely nice and you get along well and have shared a couple of teas. In the past your young children have gotten along great.

The problem is that the children don’t get along so well anymore. In fact, it has actually been suggested (by the teacher) that it would be better for your child if you keep a distance from this other child. It is not a case of your child being physically harmed – more that the other child is maybe ‘too attached’ and that the children would benefit from some serious distance.

Unfortunately the other Mum is not aware of this situation, and is still keen to organise playdates.

What would you do? Would you tell the other Mum the whole story? Would you just say ‘the kids aren’t getting along at the moment so maybe we should all just give them some space’? Or would you still put the kids together and undermine what the teacher is doing, and has been recommending? No Mum wants to hear negatives about their kids, and you want to be very careful not to offend, but also to make sure that you do the best thing by your child.

Have you ever had to deal with a situation like this? Did your parents ever have to keep you away from a friend at school?