This can be a tricky one. Your child has friends who they think are the bees knees, but you know for a fact that they are a bad influence. You can't do much about it when they're at school, but what about when they live in the same road? I had this situation with my Daughter aged 10 and a boy from her class who lives in our road. She used to play with him a lot, against my better instincts, but I soon saw the effects in her attitude. She became rude, and wanting to go out to play in our road or to his house instead of doing her homework. We had furious rows over it. In the end, I just kept making excuses to him when he called for her, and he got fed up calling. He still comes occasionally, but I just don't let her go, and I think he realises that I don't want her mixing with him outside of school. It was made harder by the fact that I'm freindly with his Mum, so had to tread carefully. Have any other parents been in a similar situation? How did you handle it?