I'm the first to admit that I'm not in touch with tween life.
DS is 12, and I feel like I've been entering a whole new world over the past year when DS's friends rapidly changed from cute little children that I used to have round for playdates to the cool tweens they are now.
So I need some advice.
DS has quite a few good friends. But the one friend he's always loved the most, who he's been tight friends with for years, has suddenly over the past year become sooooo mocking. He now mocks my DS. He mocks other friends. He takes the piss constantly, out of DS, out of other friends, out of everything.
I drove DS and 3 friends on a 45 min car journey yesterday, and the mocking from this 1 particular friend was non stop. He was seeing things out of the window and mocking them. Mocking passers by. Mocking the other friends in the car for things they were saying. He was mocking other friends who weren't in the car with us. He has started mocking DS a lot.
Apparently it's ok if he says "no offence" or "friendly banter" afterwards.
DS and this friend went out on bikes together this week and did some bike jumps, and afterwards on a GC on their phones this friend mocked my DS for being "a bit shit" at bike jumping, which another friend on the GC responded to with a laughing emoji, and then the mocking friend follwed up with "no offence". DS is on the GC so it was all said in front of his eyes as he read their comments, which they would have known.
Is this ok? I feel it's horrible, for DS to have gone out on bikes with this friend and DS came home really happy saying he'd had a brilliant time and it had been really fun, and then has to read on a GC afterwards that the friend says to the group "He's a bit shit at jumps" gets replied to with laughter, then puts "no offence".
But it is bloody offensive in my eyes. Really bloody offensive.
Like how can this good long standing friend be so mean?
This friend has texted DS this morning to invite him out on bikes again, along with the other mate who replied with the laughing emoji. And I've just said to DS no, dont go out with them if they're on a GC saying you're 'a bit shit at bike jumps' and laughing about it.
But according to DS it's all fine and everyone's mocking everyone else at the moment, though he admits this particular friend is by far the worst.
DS keeps telling me I don't get tween/teen life, because this is just how things are now.
I've chatted to DS about the fact that I really dislike, hate, mocking because I see it as a veiled attempt to be mean. DS is adament this friend is not mean, he says he's just mocking for a joke, it's just how this friend is and it's all OK.
But I don't want my DS getting mocked on a regular basis by anyone, let alone by someone who's supposed to be a good friend. I think it's horrible. If I had a friend who kept mocking me I'd drop them.
Am I just out of touch and being oversensitive?
Does anyone else have boys of this age who know about this?
DS says it's a boy thing. He says girls aren't mocking each other, but boys are.