Most parents know that children, at a very young age, make friends. Since they do not have the means to maintain those friendships, the onus is usually on the parents to keep them in touch, etc. (by the way, this an American cultural norm).

I have come to accept these duties – just as I have all the other unexpected jobs that come with being a parent - so my issue is more with the friends my 6 year-old daughter is choosing to keep and the parents that come along with them.  Sometimes she comes home telling how her friend said something that I consider to be inappropriate to her (i.e. you better buy me this or else I’m not going to be your friend). I try to take into account that they are only 6 or 7, so they may not fully understand what they are saying. However, I also try to make it clear to my daughter that good  friends would never make such demands. I think that’s even harder a concept to grasp at that age.

So, this leads me to the problem of wanting to discuss some of these inappropriate conversations with other parents. This should be easy, right? Wrong! I am well aware that many of the parents of her friends are immigrants and this can be tricky territory. Parents, especially Haitian parents, can interpret my address of this issue as my trying to criticize their child. I actually think that often we don’t know what are kids are saying to others and I welcome parents/teachers telling me when my child has spoken out of turn. How else can I fix it?

Now, I know there is never a universal way to correctly address a touchy subject with someone, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. Sorry for the unannounced two week hiatus. What can I say, life happens

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Tags: Cultural Dilemmas, Culture, Immigrants, Parenting, Relationships

This entry was posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 6:18 PM and is filed under Culture, Parenting, Questions, Social Norms, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.