Mom Bans Son's Friend From Attending Sleepover After His Mom Was 5 Hours Late For Pickup Previous Time

Sep 16, 2021 by apost team

Parenting is both rewarding and difficult, and most parents can attest to the fact that it is not a part-time job. It requires a person to dedicate their life to nurturing and supporting a child emotionally and financially, sometimes even after the child is an adult. Being a parent is a lifelong job, and often parents have to take care of not just their children but also their friends. 

A child's friends become a big part of their lives as they grow up, and often parents have to make sure that all kids under their care, even if it's for a short time, are safe and healthy. One mother took some preemptive measures to stop an unfavorable event from happening again, but it led to a falling out with another mother. Based on how the situation was handled, the woman turned to Reddit for advice about whether she was in the wrong for her actions, and was met with resounding support. 

Unfortunately, while some parents take their roles very seriously, other parents try to shirk their responsibilities. The latter is the type of person the original poster (OP) faced, and it only ended with one young boy being hurt because of his mother's irresponsibility. The OP did not invite one particular boy to her son's sleepover because his mother was chronically late to pick him up the previous time. When the mother found out that her son was left out, she tried to argue her case and told the OP she was in the wrong, but based on other commenters, the OP made the right call. 

In her Reddit post, the OP wrote, "My son just turned 10, and for his birthday wanted to do a superhero slumber party. We did something similar the last two years (not for his 9th birthday for obvious reasons), and they all had a blast. The party started around 3:00, we did pizza, movies, popcorn and designed superhero masks."

She continued, "My son is/was friends with a boy named James from his class. He came to the last two sleepover parties, and while well behaved, it was his parents who I felt were the problem. When we send out the invites, we tell the parents when the party is and what time to pick the kids up the next day. For the last two parties, James was always the last one to be picked up."

She explained the situation that led her to leave James out during her son's birthday party: "For his 8th birthday, we specifically stated that all kiddos should be picked up by 11:00AM. We had plans to go to my in laws for his birthday party, which was on his actual birthday... At 11:30, I texted James' mom and asked if she was coming to get him, she said she was on her way... By 12:30, she hadn't shown up, I texted her again and I reminded her that we had somewhere to be and she needed to get here as soon as possible... By 4:00PM my husband left with our kids to my in laws, and I called James' mother." 

The situation was obviously getting out of hand. 

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"I left her a voicemail and told her that if she was not at my house in thirty minutes to pick up her son, I was calling the police to inform them that he was an abandoned child. She showed up within fifteen minutes to get him. She made a half-assed apology about how she was busy with errands and running her other children to their activities," the OP wrote.

Naturally, after such a bad experience, the OP decided that James should no longer be at the sleepover, but when the mother heard that her son was not invited, she approached the OP. 

"So I told her the truth, that her son was not invited because I was not sure if she would come get him in a timely manner and without disrupting our plans for the rest of the day. I explained that any time her son is at my house, she is always late to pick him up and I was tired of catering to her schedule," OP told her, but this explanation was met with a lot of anger. 

OP concluded, "She called me an uppity b**ch, and has since blocked me on social media and her phone," and asked if she was in the wrong for telling her the truth. However, she found a lot of support for what she did. 

As the top comment states, "You gave her the honest reason based on experience. Instead of saying "You're right, I'm so sorry. I don't mean to have my child punished for my behavior, so could you please give him/me another chance?" she responded with profanity and blocked you?

That's a good way to ensure the poor kid will never be invited again - and no doubt other parents feel the same way." 

Do you think the OP did the right thing? Would you have done the same thing in her situation? Tell us your thoughts, and be sure to pass this on to others as well.