[Richard]

I recently took my daughter for a play date with a girl at school she’s very fond of and often talks about. I had met the dad before and seemed to get on with him, and I was aware that him and his partner were good friends with another couple, whose daughter my little one sometimes has play dates with.

Whilst my daughter went off playing with her friend for a few hours, I stayed and socialised with the parents. For the most part we got on really well, had lots in common, and it turns out we know a lot of the same people and have probably crossed paths when we were younger. However, there were a couple of things that concerned me. They offered me a drink, and I asked for a glass of water. They both then started drinking (alcohol). In the three hours we were there, dad had drank about 3 gin and tonics, and his partner has drunk 5 glasses of wine. To me this seemed a lot, considering it was a play date with two 6 year olds to look out for, not to mention their 4 month old baby, who was also being breastfed.

As well as this, there was a lot of talk about how they often have a load of their child’s friends over, and whilst they are upstairs entertaining themselves, the grownups set up a bar and have a bit of a party and the vibe I got was that a lot of alcohol was consumed. Apparently they did this on their daughter’s 6th birthday too. For me, if I’m throwing my daughter a party, it’s all about her, and I’d be too busy to be having my own party.

I don’t drink these days, and when I did it was before my daughter was born, so I don’t really know what it’s like to be intoxicated whilst a small child or baby is around. I’m aware, my perspective might be different as a result, as I couldn’t imagine doing that personally. A few beers at a family bbq or something, fair enough, go for it, but what are everyone else’s views on this situation? Am I being snobbish, overly-anxious, a party pooper? My memories of going to my friends’ house never included their parents drinking. Did I just have a particularly alcohol-free childhood?

I noticed as well, that their spirit bottles were all lined up on the radiator in the living room, well in reach of the children. My daughter is very well behaved and her friend seems well adjusted, but the idea of her being their alone in the future – as she has been invited again, makes me nervous. Not to mention that when they were making pizzas for their tea, this woman handed the kids her empty wine bottle to roll the dough.

The other thing was that they swore a lot, even when the kids were in the room. At first I thought it was accidental, then realised they didn’t seem to care. Personally, I don’t swear in front of my daughter. Am I being snobbish again?

These parents are friends with some of the other parents I associate with, who don’t seem like this at all. So it would be hard for me to just cut them out if I didn’t approve of them as that could have a large knock-on effect to my daughter’s social circle, which I am trying to help expand for her (her mum isn’t social and doesn’t do play dates and so my daughter has suffered a bit in that area). And considering they’ve asked for further play dates, a sleepover, and to help pick my daughter up from school, leaves me in a tricky position. Not to mention that if I put everything I’ve mentioned aside, they seem to be really nice people.

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