Sunday’s New York Times “Social Q’s” highlights the entire point of sharing our stories here on Mommy Manners: parents are at a loss for what to do when it comes to handling sticky situations with other parents. There is not only the “what should I do?” moment while you’re in the thick of an awkward situation, but there’s the aftermath to deal with as well. Maybe it’s easy to blow off a skirmish with another parent on the street you’ll never see again, but navigating the relationships with our parent friends and acquaintances is a whole different story.
In the NYT piece, a father disciplined his daughter’s friend physically and got the cold shoulder from the mom. Now his wife thinks he should apologize, but he doesn’t.
I can’t help but wonder how different this situation would be if it were the mother who had disciplined the other child and not the father. It’s also telling that the father doesn’t think an apology is warranted, but his wife does. Are women more apologetic than men? Or maybe it’s that we want to keep the peace and are more willing to offer up an apology if that will help keep our relationships with the other moms going.
I also think it’s interesting that it’s a man, Philip Galanes, providing the advice on what to do. Do you agree with his suggestions? Do you think a woman would have offered the same advice?
Disciplining Other People’s Children
Sunday’s New York Times “Social Q’s” highlights the entire point of sharing our stories here on Mommy Manners: parents are at a loss for what to do when it comes to handling sticky situations with other parents. There is not only the “what should I do?” moment while you’re in the thick of an awkward situation, but there’s the aftermath to deal with as well. Maybe it’s easy to blow off a skirmish with another parent on the street you’ll never see again, but navigating the relationships with our parent friends and acquaintances is a whole different story.
In the NYT piece, a father disciplined his daughter’s friend physically and got the cold shoulder from the mom. Now his wife thinks he should apologize, but he doesn’t.
I can’t help but wonder how different this situation would be if it were the mother who had disciplined the other child and not the father. It’s also telling that the father doesn’t think an apology is warranted, but his wife does. Are women more apologetic than men? Or maybe it’s that we want to keep the peace and are more willing to offer up an apology if that will help keep our relationships with the other moms going.
I also think it’s interesting that it’s a man, Philip Galanes, providing the advice on what to do. Do you agree with his suggestions? Do you think a woman would have offered the same advice?