Starting a Friendship with a Mom of Spirited kids

[JennaW]

I met another crunchy Mom at the park today. She had 2 LO's with her and has an older DS that was at a class.

Anyway, I enjoyed talking to her. She had a DS (almost 4) and a DD (almost 2). During our time together her DS kicked my DD (14 month) in the chest because he said she was following him and looking at him. The Mom got really upset, I just picked DD up and told her that I understand that kids do thing like that and that I didn't take it personally. She tried to get her DS to apologize to DD but it didn't go over so well. She went on to tell me that her DS is difficult and that her DD is willful and that her older DS can be challenging too.

So I invited her to come over to my house next week while her older DS is in his class so they don't have to be stuck at the park

I just would love some words of wisdom on how to approach this friendship. I feel like she is pretty drained and her kids are a handful. I want to extend some love and grace but at the same time I don't want my DD getting kicked in the chest anymore (which I realize will just mean I need to be more vigilant now that I know her DS is sensitive to DD being too close to him).

I know some MDC Mama's have talked about their spirited children. What qualities do you appreciate in a friend? Dos and don'ts?

[nikkiethridge]

Originally Posted by JennaW

I met another crunchy Mom at the park today. She had 2 LO's with her and has an older DS that was at a class.

Anyway, I enjoyed talking to her. She had a DS (almost 4) and a DD (almost 2). During our time together her DS kicked my DD (14 month) in the chest because he said she was following him and looking at him. The Mom got really upset, I just picked DD up and told her that I understand that kids do thing like that and that I didn't take it personally. She tried to get her DS to apologize to DD but it didn't go over so well. She went on to tell me that her DS is difficult and that her DD is willful and that her older DS can be challenging too.

So I invited her to come over to my house next week while her older DS is in his class so they don't have to be stuck at the park

I just would love some words of wisdom on how to approach this friendship. I feel like she is pretty drained and her kids are a handful. I want to extend some love and grace but at the same time I don't want my DD getting kicked in the chest anymore (which I realize will just mean I need to be more vigilant now that I know her DS is sensitive to DD being too close to him).

I know some MDC Mama's have talked about their spirited children. What qualities do you appreciate in a friend? Dos and don'ts?

Just take a deep breath. My child has gone from laid back, to a nightmare-ish handful, to a laid back child again. Her kid may have been just having an 'off' day. Hope things go well at the playdate.