When parenting goes wrong

"My mommy says she doesn't like you and I can't play with you."

That's what my daughter told me that her school friend from across the street yelled across the street to her after my daughter yelled out an exuberant "Hi [name redacted]" to her on Sunday afternoon.

I am not overly concerned about it because they're kids and crap like that rolls off their backs in mere minutes but to me it's the start of a somewhat troubling path.

To me and my limited parenting skills, this is the result of helicopter parenting at its worst and an attempt by an overly guarded mom who seems to be rather exclusionary to the point of not even saying a quick "hello" when we run in to each other at the park to choose her daughter's friends.

Choosing a child's friends never, to me at least, ends well. It ends in rebellion and the child  either being socially repressed due to constantly being told that their own choices of friends aren't good enough for dear old mom or the child making the worst choices possible when it comes to friends to take a stand against the years of helicopter parenting and making a whole string of poor decisions to rebel against the constant judgement.

But back to the whole "My mommy says she doesn't like you" part of the interaction on Sunday. What kind of parent says something so blunt to their child? This mom has to realize that no matter how many times you tell a child not to say something to others that it will get said.

Again, in the grand scheme of things it's just the first in a long line of people saying rude things to and/or about my daughter because the world is full of people who hate and judge for no reason but judgmental mom could have kept her mouth shut because our school district is on the small side and these two kids are going to be in the same schools together for the next 14 years. Not to mention the fact that we have to now endure living across the street from someone who has now openly expressed her dislike towards my daughter and probably her parents (myself and my wife) as well. That kind of sums up just one tiny bit of what's wrong with the world.