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Upset by parents I helped

56 replies

Elbowedout · 14/10/2019 03:11

NC to avoid outing. Sorry this may be long.
My DD (14) has been competing in her sport since she was 9. She is not outstanding but she is pretty good. A new girl of similar age joined our club last year. She was fairly inexperienced but clearly talented. Her parents didn't have much idea about the sport. The girls get on quite well and the parents seemed nice enough so I kind of took them under my wing, explained a lot of stuff to them, gave them the heads up whenever I heard about a training opportunity or competition that might be of interest and that kind of thing.
Then this Spring I was taken seriously ill and unable to take my DD to a lot of training and events. I asked the other girl's parents for lifts a few times but there was always an excuse why they couldn't help. It felt a bit weird, given they live close by whereas other parents from further away were willing to pick up DD. Plus their attitude changed a bit and they started being a little less friendly in general.But the reasons given were always legitimate sounding so I put it down to bad luck.
A couple of weeks ago both girls were invited to join a regional training squad. It is a smallish sport and we live in a geographically large region so the training would involve a lot of travel and it is on a school night. If I was well, I might have considered it but I told my DD I really didn't think we could manage it and she took it quite well. The other Mum told me that she felt the same and they weren't going either.
Which was all fine. Until today I was told by a reliable third party that the other girl is actually going after all. Not only that, but she has attended some other events that they had told me they weren't going to over the last couple of months.
I am gutted on my DD's behalf, and feel quite betrayed to be honest. I have been generous with my knowledge of the sport and before I was ill I offered a lot of help to their DD, as has my DD. I can't come up with any other rational explanation for their behaviour other than that it is deliberate to give their child an advantage over mine. Their girl has become the coaches' favourite too. My DD has accepted it all and is always complimentary about her friend. She is talented and has exactly the right physical attributes for the sport. They really don't need to resort to this kind of thing.
I don't know what to do now. I can't get my DD to the training independently and I don't feel like I can ask them for lifts. They have made it clear that they don't want to help us. They will literally be driving across the end of our road on their way and they know DD wanted to go even though I had reservations. If it was a one off I could perhaps believe that they didn't ask because I has said I was concerned about the late nights, but with all the other stuff I am struggling to see the best in them right now.
I am not sure what I want from this post to be truthful. I considered putting it in AIBU to gauge if my reaction is rational, but I am feeling so upset about it all I couldn't face the probable savaging. Hoping people might be kinder here.
Do I say anything to them? Do I let my DD know or just leave it and see if her friend says anything?
I feel so rubbish. I felt I letting my DD down by not being able to get her there initially but somehow the fact her friend couldn't go either made it seem less bad. Now she is the only one left out and we have been deceived as well. By people we helped and I thought were friends.
I know it isn't the end of the world but on top of the generally crappy time we've been having with my health and following on from that, finances, it really feels like we are being kicked when we are down.

OP posts:
cauliflowersqueeze · 23/10/2019 15:04

Or set up a sad “waving off” party at the end of the road!

Don’t do that either

MrsSpenserGregson · 23/10/2019 15:11

Urgh, sadly life is full of people like this when it comes to their darling children and their sporting commitments. As I've commented on other threads recently, people are getting more and more selfish in all areas of life Sad. The other parents sound awful OP, and if you HAD put this in AIBU I'd have voted YANBU. Eleventy billion times (if I were allowed!).

Flowers Flowers.

Butterymuffin · 23/10/2019 15:12

I think it's worth a shot. And I think given that the other mum lied to deliberately cut out a child she could easily have included, she deserves to squirm a bit now.

Elbowedout · 23/10/2019 15:39

@MindyStClaire no, you don't know all that stuff, but I do. However, I chose not to put huge amounts of detail, and indeed have changed some elements of the story to make everyone involved a bit less identifiable whilst keeping the essence of the situation true. But suffice it to say that no, they don't have lots of other commitments or difficulties getting there on time.
And for what it is worth I have asked for a lift maybe three times in a just over a year - hardly numerous and only when desperate - and I actually DO have expertise in the sport beyond being the mother of a current competitor. But again, detailing that could make me quite easily identifiable. They were not shy about calling for advice and asking to borrow equipment etc when they first joined the club. Until their DD started outperforming mine they were very friendly indeed. I have hardly been stalking them, but I did make the mistake of thinking I had made a friend.

OP posts:
Oops109 · 23/10/2019 22:03

You sound lovely OP. You really do and so does your daughter. I think you’re right - you don’t have to badmouth them or their daughter - but I d think reasonably sending a message laying out your boundaries is important. It’s not so much for them - people like that never really learn - but more about establishing your own self worth and your daughter’s in that you’re aware they have behaved badly, you wish them well but you don’t find their behaviour and deceit acceptable - and then move on knowing that you don’t need people like that in your life. Karma always comes back to these people and whilst I agree you don’t need to be venemous or vindictive I do think it’s important to state clearly when behaviour isn’t acceptable or unkind.

cheshirecat777 · 26/11/2019 20:49

Such a shame - I have been surprised myself by how mercenary some parents are. They are not nice people and you and your daughter are better to give them no more thought. As suggested perhaps contact the organisers of the sports and see if they offer any support for transport. Sorry you are going through this

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