Should my kids play with a younger child that tells on them?

Question

My boys are ages 7, 6, and 6. They were playing with a boy who just turned 5 in may. The boy's parents like it when my kids come over and play because it keeps him busy and out of their own hair. He also whines alot so she will call me up and ask for the kids to come over so he is happy and has something to do. to make this story short, the child was dropped off at my house when i wasnt home. I had taken my 2 boys and left one home for my niece to watch, along with my daughter and the neices daughter. my niece is 20, her daughter is 2, my daughter is 3, my son is 6. The other child was over and had tripped in the back yard and not cried, not told my niece he was hurt. she was in the house making lunch for the girls as the boys were playing outside in the fenced in back yard.

i had come home after a long while and after that about 5mins later the boy's sister came to pick him up to take him home. he starts crying and says his foot hurts. the next day my niece goes over

Answer 1

I think that kid needs friends and would benefit tremendously from hanging out with your kids even if he is kind of annoying (not sharing, etc). My son is an only child too so he's kind of a brat around other kids because he just hasn't learned the social skills that come with siblings- I'm sure that's this kid's issue too. The problem with that is that his parents are insane. I think you'd just be putting yourself at risk of a lawsuit should Precious stub his toe or something while at your house. I think you made the right decision. I wouldn't let him play with your kids anymore- it's just too much of a liability. As sad as it is, his parents are going to drive all of his friends away if they don't chill out. Kids fall down, stuff happens. Sometimes they'll even bite or hit each other and god forbid something like that happen to this boy at your house- you'd have a lawsuit on your hands for sure.

Answer 2

It was your niece's fault period.  She should NOT have allowed the boy to come over if you were not at home.  The parents of the child had every right to be concerned about their son.  And YOU should be concerned "faint mark " or not because they CAN sue you for their child's injury.  You left someone "in charge" of your property who was irresponsible in allowing this other child to be dropped off at your home, rather than using her common sense and telling the mother that she could NOT watch her child at that time.  Obviously there were too many children there for your niece to be responsible for and SHE should have said something when the child was dropped off.  Stop blaming the parents of the child and start teaching your niece to use some common sense, she is an adult and has her own child and had better start getting some soon as if she doesn't start using it she is going to wind up having her child taken from her.

Answer 3

I'd stop having the kid come over as much and make it clear to the parents that they can't use you or your neice as a drop-in sitter. I'd be more upset over the neice being used than the foot. If it truly hurt him, he'd have said something. My son (8) only notices things if they are bleeding or hurting badly, but sometimes mentions a fall hours afterwards. Get some boundaries with that family and don't stress over the foot. The parents should have a good contact number for the neice if they were going to dump the kid and run.

Edit: Ha! Read your additional stuff. I'd dump them as playmates too, but I was trying to be nice. I'd rather my kids play with each other than rude, bratty, whiney, etc type kids or deal with parents that are clueless or refuse to discipline.

Answer 4

Yes, in the long run you probably made a wise decision.  At first I was going to say that you could explain to your kids that younger kids go thru a stage of tattling, but the way the Dad acted you'd think his son never had a scrape in his life.  I'd be more worried about liability at this point, if that child got hurt, seriously hurt, the Dad might come after you legally.