A Mother Banned Her Son's Friend From Future Birthday Parties After His Mom Arrived Hours Late To Pick Him Up — 'I Told Her I Was Calling The Police'
The boy's mother claimed she was "eating lunch" and lost track of time after she picked up her son five hours after the party ended.
Africa Studio / Dmytro Zinkevych / Shutterstock As a mother was organizing a sleepover birthday party, she made the decision to invite all of his friends except one. She claims that the reason has nothing to do with the young boy, and everything to do with his parents.
The mother banned her son’s friend from returning to her house for sleepovers since his mother arrived over five hours late to pick him up at the last sleepover.
Sharing her story to the subreddit, r/AmITheA–hole, the mother asked others if she was in the wrong after she informed the boy’s mother why he was no longer allowed back for sleepovers at her house.
She revealed that for her son’s 10th birthday, he requested a “superhero slumber party” with his friends. For his last birthday, he had a similar party where all of his friends arrived at 3 PM, had pizza, and designed their own superhero masks. “They all had a blast,” the woman wrote.
One of the party guests was her son’s friend, James, who was in his class.
“He came to the last two sleepover parties, and while well-behaved, it was his parents who I felt were the problem,” the woman shared. “When we send out the invites, we tell the parents when the party is and what time to pick the kids up the next day. For the last two parties, James was always the last one to be picked up.”
At her son’s previous sleepover party, the woman informed his friends’ parents that they had to pick up their children by 11 AM the next morning, as she had family plans later that day.
Photo: Pixel-Shot / Shutterstock
All of the children had been picked up on time except for James, who was still there half an hour later. The woman decided to reach out to his mother, who responded that she was on her way.
“I assumed she ran an errand and was just running behind, no big deal,” the woman wrote. However, when 12:30 rolled around, James’ mother still hadn’t arrived. “I texted her again and I reminded her that we had somewhere to be and she needed to get here as soon as possible,” she revealed. “She responded that she was eating lunch and would be there soon.”
At 2 PM when James had still not been picked up, the woman once again reminded her that she had plans that James was not invited to. When she still had not arrived by 4 PM and the woman had no choice but to stay at the house and look after James while her husband and children attended to their family plans, she called his mother.
“I left her a voicemail and told her that if she was not at my house in thirty minutes to pick up her son, I was calling the police to inform them that he was an abandoned child,” the woman wrote.
Fifteen minutes later, James’ mother arrived to pick him up. “She made a half-a–ed apology about how she was busy with errands and running her other children to their activities,” the woman alleged.
Due to the incident, the woman decided not to invite James to her son’s next birthday slumber party to avoid a repeat of what happened last year.
After the party, James’ mother discovered that her son was not invited and texted the woman to confront her.
“So I told her the truth, that her son was not invited because I was not sure if she would come to get him in a timely manner and without disrupting our plans for the rest of the day,” the woman admitted. “I explained that any time her son is at my house, she is always late to pick him up and I was tired of catering to her schedule.”
James’ mother was not satisfied with the woman’s explanation, calling her a b–tch, and blocked her phone number and her social media accounts.
Redditors defended the woman’s decision, believing that it was justified since James’ mother’s actions interfered with her own plans.
“You gave her the honest reason based on experience. Instead of saying, ‘You're right, I'm so sorry. I don't mean to have my child punished for my behavior, so could you please give him/me another chance?" she responded with profanity and blocked you? That's a good way to ensure the poor kid will never be invited again,” one user pointed out.
“This mom sucks (to put it mildly), and I feel sorry for her kid. She was using you for free daycare and doesn’t care enough about her kid. It’s weird how she was able to pick up her kid in 15 minutes once the threats got real,” another user commented.
Other users expressed concern about James’ home life, suspecting neglect if his mother was always excessively late picking him up.
However, the woman followed up with her original post, clarifying that she does not believe that the boy has an abusive home life. “I am a nurse so I would be obligated to report this if I suspected that this was happening,” she pointed out. “She is just a chronically late person, and I am not really sure what to do to help out with this.”
The woman added that other parents have had the same issue with James’ mother at their own children’s birthday parties.
While James’ mother does have three other children and likely has a busy schedule, a pickup time is a pickup time and must be respected for the sake of others’ own schedules. If there is a valid reason that parents are running late, they should keep the lines of communication open between themselves and the child’s parents.
Redditors also agreed that the real victim in the entire situation is James, who will likely continue to be excluded from his friends’ birthday parties due to his mother’s actions.
“I do feel bad for James. I wonder if OP [original poster] and other parents who want to include James but don't want to deal with the mom can make arrangements directly with the dad in the future,” one user suggested.
“Then maybe James still gets to be included in things and the dad might get a sense of how bad things have gotten in terms of his wife alienating the other parents with her behavior.”
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.