NEED TO KNOW
- A mother prepared pumpkin carving, a board game and a movie for the first time her 10-year-old daughter had a friend stay overnight
- In a post on Mumsnet, the woman recalled hearing the kids complain about the activities and saying that they wanted to spend time without her supervising
- “[My husband] is saying I’m out of touch and should have left them to it,” the mom said
A mother is upset after she put a lot of effort into a sleepover that her daughter and her friend didn’t enjoy.
Venting about the situation on Mumsnet, the mom said it was her 10-year-old daughter’s first time having a friend stay the night.
According to the mom, the kids didn’t want to get involved in pumpkin carving and were both “huffing and puffing” because they didn’t want to play the board game she had prepared. The woman added that she put on The Twits for the girls to watch with popcorn, but was told the movie was “babyish.”
While making the two girls hot chocolate and marshmallows, the mom said she overheard them whispering about wanting to go upstairs on their own.
Girls and mom (stock image).
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The following morning, the woman said the situation continued. “They came downstairs and I said I would make pancakes, heard friend whispering to [my daughter] ‘Is this another thing where we all have to sit around together?’ ” the mom recalled.
She added that her daughter said the pair didn’t want anything to eat, and when they said they instead wanted to go for a walk, the mom explained her daughter “snapped at me that they wanted to go on their own.”
Explaining that she was “seething” at how “all the effort” she put into trying to arrange a “fun” sleepover went unappreciated, the woman confessed to feeling like the girls would prefer she “didn’t exist.”
Writing that she was “upset” with her daughter, “as I feel she knows better,” the mom added that her husband “is saying I’m out of touch and should have left them to it.”
As she questioned if she was in the wrong, the woman was met with an array of responses, including some that said the children’s behavior was “rude,” as others that argued the mom should’ve let the kids spend time alone.
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Annoyed woman (stock image).
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“I think it’s lovely that you put so much effort into activities, but usually at a certain age, they want to just hang out with their friends instead of doing everything with their parents,” one person wrote.
“They were rude and you were over-invested,” another commented. “Nice to think of some activities in advance, but it does sound like you had too much of a schedule.”
“Forced fun isn’t great at any age. It sounds like the activities were for you,” a third Mumsnet chimed in.
“They’re more than old enough to entertain themselves,” one other commentator said. “Did your daughter actually ask for all these things? If so, then yes, she was being rude.”
“If not, then you should have just left them alone, as they probably already had plans for things they wanted to do,” they added.
