No…because its not about you its about your child and their choices. This is your learning ground because you wont get to select their husbands or wives either and unless you learn to be accepting of their choices then you will have major issues later in life.

I’ve done it — or steered him in another direction and encouraged alternative friends and play dates. Absolutely, you can if there are some serious issues with the chosen friends.

It’ s up to your children who they are friends with, you can only guide them in the right direction.

There were boys my son was friends with that I didn’t particularly like but it was up to him who his friends were. I never let those boys at my house and never let my son go to their house. I’d get them to meet at the park and I made sure I went along as well. My son soon learned they weren’t friends after all since they only wanted to be friends if they could come to our house.

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  • • mom19782016 replied
    • 02 Apr 2019 , 3:36 pm

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  Yep, we’re a bit similar with that. If they only want to hang out to play with your toys then they’re not your real friends!

Your children have to learn how to choose friends wisely – we cannot do it for them. And the only way they do this is by having many friends and realizing for themselves who is a good friend and who is a snake in the grass. They usually learn quickly if left to their own devices.

There is always going to be children that you don’t want your kids to play with, but we can’t decide for them.

This certainly hits home. There are kids you just sometimes don’t want your children socialising with but they have to go through the motions themselves.

I wouldn’t ban him or anything, but I wouldn’t hesitate to point out how bad certain behaviour is.

Oh yes absolutely. I’ve done it though with discussion about what a good friend is and what a good friend isn’t. It’s never been specifically about a child – just in general. After lots and lots of these discussions, my kids know which kids are good for them and treat them well. In the mean time, I don’t invite these other kids around at all. We’re always polite and civil and I teach my kids to be nice and kind to them still but hopefully encourage them to play with other kids who treat them better at school.

Interesting to hear how many have done it. Hard if the friend is not really a friend. I would talk to my child rather than manipulate the relationship

It’s interesting to get other people’s perspective

you can encourage the kids in making good choices by explaining to them what a good friend is and how a good friend behaves. you can also stop certain children from coming to your house. but at the end of the day if the kids are friends they will always find a way to play together at school.

You make the decision of children you have in your house at that age, not them. Don’t accept play dates at their place either. If your son is shy he may have difficulty making friends and some may take advantage of that.

She can guide them but kids make their own choices.

This is a hard one and I have definitely been in this position before with both my kids when they were in primary school. Playdates are the worst when you have that child you don’t like come over and have to put up with them for a few hours. I have actually made up excuses to get out of a couple of playdates just so we could avoid them coming over. Made a couple of lucky escapes when the other family has moved to another area and the friendship has ended. I have had to bite my lip plenty of times because you try and do what’s right for your child. In the end my daughter realised one particular friend was so toxic and clingy that she came to me and said she wanted the friendship to be over so I told the mum. It didn’t go well as we were seen as the bad ones but things settled down and life got easier.

I think you can point out little things that you don’t like.

I would encourage him to play with the kid at school but don’t mame play dates outside school and talk to your kid about how you feel about this particular friend

This is a tough one. I suppose all you can do is steer him away from these kids and encourage him to play with a wider circle of friends so you dont have to be entertaining the friends you dont like all the time .

If you tell him he can’t play with the kid it’s most likely going to make him want to play with that particular child even more!

School sometimes separates children from classes when they think they don’t have a positive impact on each other. Of course you `can do the same or otherwise talk with your child and teach him to be a good friend. You never know the positive impact your child has and that boy you can’t stand.