This mum is totally unreasonable isn't she? Help me word a reply!

[WaitrosePigeon]

My son went to his friends house for a play and tea yesterday. They are both 5. They went to a local soft play.

I went to pick my son up and the husband was there, all good. Had a great time.

I text the mum to say thank you etc and I had this reply...

'No problem! They had a great time at soft play and then they had some dinner there. It came to £10.00. You can give me the money at the gates tomorrow. Have a nice evening! X'

Erm what the fuck? Is that normal? What do I do?

Good on you
She cannot win this argument, she is in the wrong.

Well done for calling her out (nicely) on her double standards.

Also! If you have a kid to your house for play and dinner after school then you don't charge for the childcare and groceries do you?! Stooopid!

'Hey bitch! I took your kid to lego land and didn't ask you for a penny you tight wad!!! Where's my fucking money!!!'
I maybe a little hormonal so you probably shouldn't put that

Pay in 10p pieces.

Yanbu at all, how rude and cheeky, when you have taken her DC out. If there were costs she should have said from the beginning.

I would have text back too op because I do believe she's wrong to ask you for money when you've never taken a penny from her.

Good for you for not being all British stiff-upper-lip and being too embarrassed to call her out on her total hypocrisy.

Let's face it, you are totally going to avoid her from now on so no need to worry about burning your bridges here.

We are all here for you Waitrose

This is why text wars are a very bad idea. You should simply have said, funny, I don't remember you reimbursing me for the Legoland trip - and left it at that.

"The next time I saw her, I would give he the £10 and say, "Sorry about my text-I didn't express myself well there. I have paid for meals out for your child several times, so I was surprised when you asked to be reimbursed for an activity. Is this how you want us to run things in the future, with strict reimbursement for costs incurred during play dates?"

^^ this. But I'd insert "that wasn't discussed in advance" before the last sentence.

The cheeky cow!!

The only time I've asked for money when doing an activity with someone else's child was when my husband was taking our sons camping and our oldest son's girlfriend was dropping hints like bricks about going with them (would love to go camping/never been camping/mother bought camping equipment to take her but it's never been out of the shed blah blah blah) before our son mentioned that she'd asked him to ask if she could go with them. At the time she was never away from our house (Summer hols) and my weekly food bill had increased by around £20 a week as she was somehow there for every meal so I thought fuck it, her mother's saving a small fortune here so asked for her contribution for the site fees and to bring some food. Husband still ended up spending money on her for fish and chips a couple of times.

OOh I hope she replies soon - I'm on the edge of my seat here

Thread moved too quickly. Love the response. Firmly believe that if she has opened the floodgates re money then you have every right to be reimbursed.

anyone else keep refreshing the screen to see if she's replied?

I hope it all goes well and that your little boy doesn't lose a good friend

What a fucking tightwad. I wouldn't have anything to do with someone like that. I hate tight people

No way should you have to pay, it's so rude of her to ask. She should have told you they were going there in advance and you should have offered to pay but to ask is cheeky. I say that she should of told you first so you knew where your child was going to be but not so as she could ask for the money.

That is such a bitchy response! Hers not yours.

I would never say money was tight. It is no ones business.

If things are awkward it is her fault, not yours. Decide if you want to be able to move on. If so, give her the money and say see you later. Means nothing really. If you don't want anything else to do with her just give her the money, say there you are and walk off.

Just because everyone knows her doesn't mean she s anything special.

This is not going to end well at all.

YY to the refreshing :) I'm starting to think she won't reply

This is embarrassing - just leave it! It will cause so many problems for the sake of £10!

😨

Make sure you tell the other school mums before she does - I bet she'll have a right old bitch about you and probably twist it.

It was really silly to reply - don't be egged on by a bunch of Mumsnetters who just want a juicy thread to read.

Really, just rise above. She's in the wrong but she won't see it.

If you did anything you should have done what Yank suggested upthread, said something face to face and honest 'sorry we got into a funny text convo, we obviously had crossed wires. So shall we always pay for our kids to do stuff together in future?' OR decide to give her a wide berth from now on without any drama.