Anonmom

Win: our preschooler asked for swimming lessons and has taken to them like a fish!

Woe: the kiddo is Also waking up multiple times in the night. I feel like I have a newborn on my hands: any tips for sleep training a 4-yr old??

This, to me, is the crux of the matter. OP seems like they are wanting to learn more about how to approach differences of parenting within their friend group now before the kids get older and it continues to other behavior. I like some of the suggestions others have mentioned about how to approach parenting in a group, house rules and how to talk to one’s friends. These are the things to focus on now so that this doesn’t continue to be a problem as the friend group’s kids continue to age.

With that in mind, I’m curious of how others have negotiated this with their friend group. Is it better to reset those boundaries outside of a gathering or in the moment by gently having an aside from the rest of the party? During a one on one play date?

The thing is, I fully expect my parenting style to differ from my fiends’ and for our kids to run into varying conflicts over the years. What may be a smooth relationship now, may be bumpy at another stage in their childhood. But I would want my friends to respect my house rules when here at my place regardless of how the rules may differ from their own. But I’m curious about different approaches to these types of conversations.