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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

never ever to invite this child over again

27 replies

snowsuit · 26/05/2017 22:18

v tired so this will probably be incoherent, but DD (8) had her friend over for a play date yesterday. they wanted to play with/draw on a big empty cardboard box, which i said was ok as long as they took it into the garden. i have baby twins so went into the other room to feed them, DD ran in saying '[friend] won't listen when i tell her to stop'... went outside to find that the friend had gone into the conservatory and found the bits of styrofoam that i'd taken out of the box and was shredding them into approx. 1 billion tiny pieces and strewing them over the garden and conservatory. i told her to stop and she said 'it wasn't me, your cat did it!' while still shredding the plastic! i put DTs in playpen and started to try to sweep up... heard DD yell to me again and went into kitchen to find the friend had climbed up on the counter and got down a bottle of fish oil tablets and literally poured them all over the floor, and was squishing them one by one. i explained through gritted teeth that crawling babies and tablets on the floor was a dangerous combination as they could swallow one and choke, to which she responded by laughing and did an impression of a baby choking. her mum arrived not too long after that and i mentioned all of this (in a fairly casual way) and got 'oh yes she does that sort of thing at our house too' Hmm yesterday evening i then discovered that she'd scrawled something illegible on DD's bedroom wall, and had also pulled the sheet off DD's bed and written her name in pen on the mattress! i'm just a bit shocked at how poorly behaved this child is. never want her in my house again to be honest. AIBU?

OP posts:
FuckyDuck · 26/05/2017 22:19

YANBU.
What a vile kid and horrible mother!

PeaFaceMcgee · 26/05/2017 22:20

Yanbu - not for a long time at least!

Crumbs1 · 26/05/2017 22:20

No entirely reasonable. I'd have told her off very firmly too.

elevenclips · 26/05/2017 22:20

Wtf Shock

SynysterGates · 26/05/2017 22:21

Yeah

wildbhoysmama · 26/05/2017 22:21

Omg! Ban her forever! I'd go ruddy mental. How dare the mother be so flippant!

Ilovewillow · 26/05/2017 22:23

YANBU - she sounds a real delight!

Floggingmolly · 26/05/2017 22:24

The mother sounds completely mad. Make sure you let your dd know what's acceptable at her house if the play date is reciprocated...

KERALA1 · 26/05/2017 22:24

Wow. You had me at the first incident then it got worse. Never again op

snowsuit · 26/05/2017 22:26

thanks everyone. my DD really likes this girl but i honestly don't want her over again. i'm not very good at telling off other people's kids but i did get very stoney-faced with her, and was supposed to take them both out after they'd played to do a fun thing, but told her that i wouldn't be able to do that now as i'd be spending the rest of the afternoon clearing up the mess (took DD out on her own later as it really wasn't her fault). DD can definitely be a handful at times but i thankfully cannot imagine her going to a friend's house and writing on their mattress Shock

OP posts:
BlessYourCottonSocks · 26/05/2017 22:27

See, whilst having huge amounts of sympathy with you, your rookie mistake was to mention it to her mother 'in a fairly casual way'...Grin

I have no problem telling other people's children off and would have read the riot act to child. When her mother arrived I'd have said firmly, 'her behaviour has been appallingly rude and I'm afraid she won't be invited again'.

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 26/05/2017 22:32

What Bless said. And I'd have bollocked the girl at the time too.

TheSnorkMaidenReturns · 26/05/2017 22:37

It's perfectly OK to discipline visiting children for this kind of behaviour. I would have gone for, and have done, something along the lines of:
"Stop That NOW".
"Don't tell fibs, I can see what you are doing".
"Please clean this up now, and I'll be asking your mother to pay me back from your pocket money".
I have also told children they will have to go home straight away if they don't behave properly, according to the rules of my house.
I'm not a tyrant, and I have kids with SN, but this kind of behaviour is completely unacceptable in an 8 year old.

youarenotkiddingme · 26/05/2017 22:40

I had the same issue when ds was younger with telling others parents just how badly behaved their little darlings had been.

It didn't help when one of his friends wrote her name all over a cushion in his room and the mum a) tried to deny it was her ConfusedHmm and b) then tried to say it was because her DD wasn't used to the strictness of my rules.

Nowadays I'm glad I have more confidence and I'm grateful for the strictness of not allowing drawing on walls, stickers on every item of furniture and drawing on furniture.
The mum in question has been open about how she's had to paint whole house and totally re decorate her DD's room which cost £1000's because of her art work which she's finally decided is better on paper st 13 fucking years old Shock

OhWotIsItThisTime · 26/05/2017 22:51

Just don't invite her back.

WeAllHaveWings · 26/05/2017 22:57

I would have made her stop shredding the styrofoam and clear it up, if she didn't she'd would have been told she would be going straight home and wouldn't be back in my house again. Fish oil incident would then never have happened.

You need to show visiting children your boundaries and expect respect.

snowsuit · 26/05/2017 23:02

i would have made her clean it up, but unfortunately it's pretty much impossible to do - as soon as you try to pick it up or sweep it it splits into even tinier bits that then blow around in the wind... i was incredibly pissed off about the garden being covered in it, becuase the garden is my little sanctuary - DH and i spent HOURS yesterday sweeping and picking bits of it up. the only bit of light relief was the sight of DH trying to vacuum the lawn GrinGrinGrin

OP posts:
Nocabbageinmyeye · 26/05/2017 23:04

Not only would I not invite her back but I'd be knocking that friendship on the head altogether, none of that is normal Shock And I'd be sending a photo of the mattress with

"Obviously Mary won't be back to play again but had dd done this I would want to know so I could punish her, I am really not impressed at all"

user1490395938 · 26/05/2017 23:04

Yanbu!! What a horrible child.

Aeroflotgirl · 26/05/2017 23:20

No way, sounds like the behaviour of a toddler, not an 8 year old. After the styrofoam shredding incident, I wod not be having her back again.

MsJudgemental · 26/05/2017 23:20

YANBU to go NC but stop being so 'naice'. Your home. Your rules.

Aeroflotgirl · 26/05/2017 23:21

Meant after the foam shredding, i would have contacted her mother to come and collect her.

MsGameandWatch · 26/05/2017 23:23

I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from giving her a good telling off and her mother would have been called to pick her up pronto!

DontSweatTheSmallStuff · 26/05/2017 23:31

lol glad im not the only one who has considered vacumming the lawn after the 3yr old styrofoamed our lawn

chevit · 26/05/2017 23:37

YANBU.

I would send over a picture of the mattress and the walls and a bill.
I would also not allow that child back in my house. Whether DD is fond or not. She'll learn bad habits from her and I wouldn't have that. Her mother obviously doesn't care so not good at all IMO

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