After kids you may expect to drift apart from your childless pals. But not from friends with kids the same age. Or maybe not?
It seems to come as a surprise to most of us when long term friends, the ones with whom we have so much in common and a rich shared history, have such a different parenting approach that it makes it challenging, if not downright unpleasant, to get the two families together.
It could be a difference in discipline styles or clashes in the temperaments of the children, but the combination of two opposing styles can be painful. And ackward. And often, unresolved.
When faced with these uncomfortable clashes with our nearest and dearest, most of us don’t know what to do. We may not like how they parent or how their children behave, but we don’t want to tell them what to do. We may sincerely fear that our child may pick up bad habits, or get hurt. But…. we don’t want to hurt our friends feelings.
So we wallow in the ackward. We stop making plans. We start making excuses. We feel uncomfortable and we don’t know what to do about it.
Has this ever happened to you? How did you handle it?
Can this friendship survive children?
After kids you may expect to drift apart from your childless pals. But not from friends with kids the same age. Or maybe not?
It could be a difference in discipline styles or clashes in the temperaments of the children, but the combination of two opposing styles can be painful. And ackward. And often, unresolved.
When faced with these uncomfortable clashes with our nearest and dearest, most of us don’t know what to do. We may not like how they parent or how their children behave, but we don’t want to tell them what to do. We may sincerely fear that our child may pick up bad habits, or get hurt. But…. we don’t want to hurt our friends feelings.
So we wallow in the ackward. We stop making plans. We start making excuses. We feel uncomfortable and we don’t know what to do about it.
Has this ever happened to you? How did you handle it?