My spouse has a friend that I just cannot stand, and I like the friend’s spouse even less. They have a child that my youngest likes to spend time with, and we live in the middle of nowhere, so friends can be lacking. They live down the road so playdates are convenient, but I see so much of the parents in their child, and I don’t want that behavior rubbing off on mine.

My spouse knows I don’t care for his friend, and agrees that the wife is just the worst, but he makes plans for the kids to get together when I am not home, and then I come home to the chaos of this other child. I don’t like it because I don’t want my kid acting like theirs does, and also because my kid is (as of right now anyway) a total follower who will go along with, and mimic, the ways her friends act, even if she know deeps down its not appropriate.

So what’s worse? No one to play with on the weekends (because her school is not in the town where we live so it’s harder to form out of school friendships), or hanging out with the little heathen from down the street?