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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To feel confused and upset by being ignored

235 replies

CaffeineShadow · 17/04/2012 14:18

Since I have become a mum I have found it hard to make friends with other mums who are on the same wavelength as me. I have lots of old friends who have no children.
Last summer I made a new mummy friend that I met at a playgroup and we got on amazingly well. She has a 3 year old DD as do I. So began a really good friendship where we met up a lot with the children and without. The two girls were calling each other "best friends". She also lives just down the road from me so very handy. She invited me to go to Circus of Horrors with her and we just got on amazingly well and had a lot in common. I started to confide in her about private stuff, naturally.
My DD is a very spirited child, her emotions are so strong whether good or bad.If she doesn't get her own way she screams so loudly, it's quite embarrassing, she can get very hitty and have lots of tantrums. When we met up with the children we had to watch them a lot as they were either totally in love or fighting. But we used to laugh about it as it's quite common at their age.
After a little while of these meetings she came over our house with her daughter and my DD started getting very upset and unruly as her friend was playing with DDs toys. She ended up hitting my friend's DD and having an embarrassing screaming tantrum and so they swiftly left and I obviously punished my DD as much as I could and warned her that her friend's mummy may not allow her DD round to ours anymore if she carried on like that every time.
A few weeks passed where I didn't hear from my friend so I texted her and she said she had just been busy. I asked her if she and her DD would like to meet me and my DD at the park as I thought they would both be out in the fresh air together and they don't have to share any toys.
As soon as they got there I had my back to the children as I said hi to my friend and she was facing them. She suddenly shouted out that my DD was kicking sand at her DD. I quickly picked her up to take her to a table to give her a warning. I told her if it carried on we would go home as it is dangerous and naughty to kick sand. She had a scream and cry then agreed she wouldn't do it again. A few seconds later she was doing it again and my friend looked really pissed off (I don't blame her, so was I!) So again I took her away and she said she needed the toilet so off we went to the toilet and I was going home afterwards. We got back to the park and my friend said she was going. I said I'd just get my stuff together and walk with her. She said she had to go immediately.
After that we were supposed to meet up one on one whilst the girl's where at nursery but when it came to the day she cancelled saying she had totally forgotten she was supposed to meet me so had arranged to meet her family. After that I texted her again about meeting up and she sent a vague msg saying that we should meet up sometime.
A couple of weeks ago I told her about a fete that was on which her and her DD came to but she hardly spoke to me at all and then left as soon as her daughter fell over in the playground. She said we should meet up in the easter holidays.
Over the easter holidays I texted her about three times asking if she wanted to meet up and apologising once again for DDs behaviour to her DD and she sent back vague msgs saying "next week sometime" and didn't mention the apology. When next week came I didn't hear anything.
I have stopped texting her now as I feel like I am chasing and chasing and making myself look like a stalker!
But AIBU to want her to just tell me if she doesn't want to be friends with me and stop skirting around the issue? I am quite upset as we had so much in common and I really thought I had found a really good friend.
If you get this far with the reading, you are amazing and thank you!

OP posts:
ReactionaryFish · 17/04/2012 23:04

Of course she has behavioural concerns on her hands. That's the whole fucking point. her child is behaving in a way that is causing difficulties. that is a behavioural problem. the point I and others are trying to make is that some children will respond better and more quickly to interventions than others and that is no-one's fault - it is to do with the child's innate abilities and characteristics. ASD and other disorders are part of this continuum, but some children will be slower to learn than others without having a disorder meriting a DX.

Beccatheboo · 17/04/2012 23:05

End this thread, please - it's now completely off-subject.

NowThenWreck - 'However, I try to teach my son that manners, respect and consideration for others are very important, because that is the way he would want to be treated. I just never let what I consider to be ill treatment of others go. Ever. ' I certainly didn't read in the OP that she doesn't teach her DD manners etc and lets her get away with ill treatment. Similarly, 'Most badly behaved children are just raised that way.'

LeQueen - 'Maybe the tactics I used successfuly with DD2...' Do prey tell what 'tactics' you will use when your DD is a willful teenager or, come to think of it, fully-grown adult.

Children are people, not playdoh.

ReactionaryFish · 17/04/2012 23:08

no-one is suggesting the child does have ASD. the point, which is surely not that hard to grasp, is that the innate abilities of children to understand and respond to behavioural interventions such as you and others describe are extremely variable. to burble on pointlessly about what you did and how fast it worked and aren't you bloody marvellous is just smug and tedious.
as for your advice on ASD - spare us, please

LeQueen · 17/04/2012 23:09

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skybluepearl · 17/04/2012 23:10

I second the zero tollerence approach. Are you giving her too much attntion after these incidents? After hitting, give a quick reson why she has to sit on the naughty step and then leave her there for 3 mins. Less attention the better. Focas on the victim mostly and making sure they are happy.

LeQueen · 17/04/2012 23:13

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Beccatheboo · 17/04/2012 23:15

skyblue - did the OP ask for advice in dealing with her DD's behaviour? No. Glad the OP appears not to be reading this thread anymore.

Give it a rest now and climb down from your various soapboxes.

pictish · 17/04/2012 23:21

No - the Op quite categorically did not ask for advice on how to deal with her daughter.
She wondered if her friendship was salavagable.

Some of us said probably not, and here is why....

She responded with the official line on spirited children and what we might expect from one such as hers, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

We said oh well...good luck with that then, you'll need it.

So?

NannyPlumIsMyMum · 17/04/2012 23:23

OP I'm really sorry- my daughter is a text book ' Spirited Child ' and I have the book that you lifted your quotes from .

But my daughter is a also a sensitive soul.
And although she squabbles with her younger brother , she has never been aggressive with another child. She is 6.5.

Spirited does not mean that the child exhibits unpleasant behaviours.

I'm slightly cross because you are doing the rest of us with ' spirited ' children a great dis service.

LeQueen · 17/04/2012 23:23

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Beccatheboo · 17/04/2012 23:24

Ah, but LeQueen - a mother's job is never done! There will always be things our children do that annoy us. I suppose the trick is to pick battles wisely...

LeQueen · 17/04/2012 23:25

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LeQueen · 17/04/2012 23:26

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AwkwardMaryHadAnEasterLamb · 17/04/2012 23:30

The thing you copied and pasted OP....it reads aas though it were speaking with authority on some recognised medical "condition" which being "Spirited" is not.

where on earth did you get it? It reminds me of those silly books on Future Children or whatever they're called...it just sounds like your DD needs to learn more about sharing.

Beccatheboo · 17/04/2012 23:30

NannyPlum - yawn yawn yawn. Unless home-schooled and never at any independently-run event, you don't know what your DD is doing/acting like 100% of the time. Hitting etc etc is not acceptable and is not being accepted by OP. Spirited was a phrase of turn that you've all pounced on.

As I seem to be fighting the battle of the OP who's not around anyway, I think I'll crawl up to bed with a heavy feeling in my heart. 'Big society'? More like a Lord of the Flies scenario with OP as Piggy.

AwkwardMaryHadAnEasterLamb · 17/04/2012 23:31

But NannyPlum who invented the term "Spirited Child" ffs??

I could coin a term...write a book...and make squillion but it wouldnt make me qualified to invent terms for certain children!!

LeQueen · 17/04/2012 23:33

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LeQueen · 17/04/2012 23:36

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AwkwardMaryHadAnEasterLamb · 17/04/2012 23:37

In fact....I would like to introcuce the term The PITA Child. Which is a new way of describing those DC who won't do as they're told and as the Mother of a PITA Child myself...I am qualified to talk about this newly recognised and special way of being.

PITA Children are very special and not always immediately recognised for their independant and creative nature. They are often wrongly called "bloody cheeky" when they refuse to brush their teeth because they are watching Spongebob (again). Let your PITA child do as he/she chooses....it is more beneficial to their delicate nature than a plain, no-nonsese bollocking.

pictish · 17/04/2012 23:37

'Big society'?More like a Lord of the Flies scenario with OP as Piggy.

You what? Grin

AwkwardMaryHadAnEasterLamb · 17/04/2012 23:38

LeQueen that's them! I called them "Future Children"! Grin

pictish · 17/04/2012 23:38

I am genuinely laughing my head off here! Grin

LeQueen · 17/04/2012 23:39

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AwkwardMaryHadAnEasterLamb · 17/04/2012 23:41

What about when they repeatedly lie about having done something?

Noqontrol · 17/04/2012 23:41

Hope your head doesn't fall off from laughing so much Smile