When your kid goes to kindergarten, your only kid, there are a lot of things that are new to you. Of course, there’s the newfound freedom if you’re a stay at home mum. I have to admit, I relished in those delicious hours, knowing I didn’t have to run like a bat out of hell trying to get errands or grocery shopping done. Yet I looked forward to my son making friends so I could make friends with the mums.
The mothers of my child’s friends are quite lovely. At this school there’s quite a lot of stay at home mums (or they’re juggling p/t work) and I am learning a lot from them as they have older children who attend the same school. They kind of know the system and how things are done. I had been warned about the fundraising and that’s no joke. It seemed like every other week we were asked to buy something or pay for some group to come in. I would just prefer they ask you donate to a lump sum at the beginning of the year.
Then there’s the playground politics. Recently one of the mums has decided to shun one family because she thinks the other boy is a bad influence on her son. I have not seen that family on the playground anymore. I told her that I respected her decision in regards to wanting to protect her kids, but that I would not prevent my son from playing with the little boy, but if there were to be any play dates at their place (as there had been before with no incidents), I would simply go with him and keep my radar on. That way I could ensure that no unsuitable videos would be watched or whatever. Or we go to neutral territory like a park or swimming pool. I’d rather get to know the family better than ignore them. I don’t make a habit of parenting other people’s kids but when they are in my home, they follow my rules. If they don’t listen and can’t behave (ie. trash the joint without cleaning up when asked), they don’t come back. Hubby went to pick up Boo one day and spoke to her about it as well. He said unless she had concrete proof of this guy’s character, she ought to careful about throwing the “abuse” word around. Some people think letting your kids watch TV and eat sugar is abusive, so people draw lines through some things and not others. Now if I learn of anything unsavoury and I don’t mean gossip, that’s different. I will always defend someone’s right to go with their instinct but I also rely on my own.
A Woman My Age 
Oh, I am well aware of the playground drama. It does calm down a lot as the kids age. Or, maybe it’s just that you weed out the people who are going to cause trouble and band together with the rest.
I think your approach sounds good- not to ignore the family but to just watch how things are or meet at a neutral place. It doesn’t seem fair on the kids to be left out.