December 29, 2023 at 12:55 am

‘I clearly didn’t hide my annoyance.’ – Friends Insist On Bringing Their Kids To Kid-Free Evenings, And This Childless Woman Has Had Enough

by Chris Allen

Source: Reddit/AITA/iStock

You get off work with plans to meet up with a group of friends to unwind.

But then you end up entertaining their kids instead.

This story is that kind of frustration boiled over.

AITA for always turning down hang outs with my friends when they ask to bring their kids?

I have a friend group of 7 women from uni. I’m the only one that’s childfree, but 1 is childless, 2 are pregnant with their first and 3 have kids.

We as a group rarely meet up. I’ve seen all of them maybe twice in the last year, and we all live in the same city.

The kids inevitably come up…

Every time someone asks to meet up and we finally find a date everyone is available, one of the moms always asks if they can bring their child, or children.

It’s usually 1 of 2 moms, as the third actually wants to have a kid free evening. And before anyone else can answer, the other mom says yes.

All 3 moms have husbands who can watch their kids. Most of them also have both sets of grandparents who are involved. But somehow they never manage to find someone who can “babysit”, as they call it.

So at this point I’ve stopped answering until they’ve set a time and place, someone has asked about kids, and I say I can’t make it.

I hang out with them one on one, or in smaller groups instead.

But she gave it one more go…

Well a few days ago we agreed to finally meet up.

No one had asked about kids and we were having a bbq and wine night.

Well, who shows up with their 8 year old? Yep, one of the moms.

I clearly didn’t hide my annoyance and one of the girls asked me why.

I just waved it off and 30 min later I excused myself and left. Said I didn’t feel well.

In those 30 min we hadn’t had any “adult talk”, we were just entertaining the kid. I would rather go home than do this for another 3-4 hours.

Understandable… but there was fallout.

After I left, I think they realised this was a pattern and I got text from most of the girls in the group.

Some calling me an AH, others just saying they were annoyed with me for leaving, while the third mom having my back, and asked to meet up later that week to have a proper wine night.

I don’t hate kids at all. I work with them every day and don’t want to spend my time off, relaxing with friend, having to entertain other people’s kids again.

AITA?

Can’t a girl just hang out with her besties?

Let’s see what the Redditverse thought.

Some commenters like this drew a clear line in the sand.

Source: Reddit/AITA

This user sees the sometimes-natural progression of friend group life.

Source: Reddit/AITA

While this commenter was somewhere in the middle.

Source: Reddit/AITA

This person agreed with the previous one, noting how to make the whole scenario smoother.

Source: Reddit/AITA

Frustration was had by all involved.

Sounds like a communication breakdown!

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.