At this point, I'm upset at my daughter's behavior, irritated at the other mother's lack of response to the situation and feeling out right disrespected by her daughter for completely ignoring me. I get up before she is finished whining to her mother so I can pull my daughter aside from the rest of the kids to get the scoop from her. All of a sudden, the other little girl takes the opportunity to try and tell me what happened. I stopped her and told her that she had her chance and that my daughter is now getting the opportunity to explain for herself and that she does not and will not lie. My daughter sure did make me proud that evening. She did tell the truth from beginning to end and took her timeout like a champ. The other girl's mother was jaw dropped and actually asked me how I got a child that behaves so well (I kept my gut response to myself!).

When she was done with her timeout she went to apologize to the girl she had hurt. This did not go over well either. Her response to the apology was a snotty “whatever” that turned into a spoiled child's pity party. My daughter was crushed since she really did mean what she said to her and was in fact sorry for hurting her. Again, no intervention from the other mom. She was too involved with her conversation outside. I let the other girl have her fit and explained to my daughter that not everyone will accept an apology but that she had done her part and meant it wholeheartedly and that was all she could do. With that said, her and the rest of the kids were back to playing and having a good time.

I confronted the mother outside about the situation now going on with her daughter inside. All she could say was that she knows about the behavior and that's been the norm for her. She does it all the time at home; acting like a “princess diva and ignores them all at home if she doesn't want to listen.” She simply summed it up to she was “tired of dealing with it.” I tried to explain to her further that she might want to go talk with her but instead was reassured that her daughter was fine and “she'll get over it.”

At this point, I have now lost my patience the mother. Time to take a deep breath and walk away. I look around the room and the other parents that are witness to it all, hoping to find in someone's eyes my same frustration and out right shock at the lack of her parenting in the entire situation. Thank god it was quickly and easily spotted. As calmly as I could, I let the mother and daughter know that if this is normal behavior and that it is tolerated, then the two would not be playing together. The little girl is older than mine by at least 3 years and should be setting the example. The mother seemed to have really cared less, probably thinking that I myself would “just get over it.”

I know I can't control other people's kids or tell parents how to parent. That's not my place and I really don't want that responsibility but come on. Deal with your kids when they need to be dealt with and remember that you are setting an example for them with everything that you do and lack doing.