false friends?

Question

Fairly new to the neighborhood. My son found a friend to play with most of last summer(very happy). My husband and myself developed friendship with parents. We get along very well. They asked us if I could babysit their son 3 days per week.(9 years old only child).Before & after school.. No big deal. They offered to pay, but I thought since we developed a friendship rather akward about accepting money. They express how much they appreciated it. The mother would take both my son and her son out for lunch, swimming, etc. Fastforward. Four months later both my son and his friend are having problems getting along. Fights etc. Her son express to us, he disliked my son and hated coming to our house( I guess love/hate friendship).We decided to end looking after him(all agreed best thing to do. I have noticed change of attitude toward me since this happen with the Mother/friend? I thought we were becoming good friends...My son still plays with her son sometimes.. False friend??

Answer 1

What happened was that you attached your friendship with the boy's mother with the friendship between the two boys. Big mistake. That's very similar to two guys who are good friends expecting their wives to be friends with each other too.

You have done the right thing by ending the babysitting relationship. (She should have been paying you money anyway. Taking the boys swimming and such is just part of being a mother, that's not really compensation -- to you.)

Don't get caught up in any babysitting scheme again. Let time go by and see if this incident can be put in the past. If not, move on and get other friends -- on you own.

Answer 2

I think she has some animosity towards you because of the decision to not babysit her son anymore.I don't think she was truly your friend anyway.As long as you were serving her,everything was fine,but once you served your purpose,she no longer needs you around anymore.I would talk it over with her and see what her problem is.

Answer 3

hm. It's kind of complicated.