I've always wanted to be the mom my kid’s friends call “Mama.” The kind of loving and trusted adult that even kids who don’t belong to me feel secure coming to with tea or for advice. Not necessarily the “cool mom,” but definitely the reliable one. And then my daughter met Isabel.
And, truthfully, I just can’t stand her... or her family. Before the girls became super close, Isabel seemed like the perfect friend for my daughter (we’ll call her Clementine). They’re both social butterflies with big personalities and similar obsessions.
Isabel invited Clementine everywhere, and we gladly accepted. We live in a neighborhood with no other kids Clem’s age, so we were pumped when she bonded so fiercely with Isabel. Let me preface this by saying that Isabel is a pretty good kid.
When I was growing up, I had a collection of best friends who lit things on fire, snuck out of their house, threw every glass bottle they found, regularly treated themselves to five-finger discounts. Isabel is not that kind of friend. She does, however, come with her own set of “issues.” For starters, Isabel inhabits a world wildly different from ours.
She lives with her grandparents in an affluent neighborhood outside of our school district. They’re fairly “cool” and nice enough, minus Nana’s RBF. Their neighborhood has a great pool and bonkers trick-or-treating.
They love Isabel intensely and tolerate my kid pretty well. They’re also active members of the greater city area, which I truly admire about them. Still, there are just so many hurdles we can’t seem to leap over when we have to parent together at playdates.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
