Woman Is Unsure What to Do About Her Friend’s Teenager’s Bad Behavior While That Friend Is Traveling: ‘Ruined Everything’

A woman says she’s at her wit’s end after spending time with a friend’s “poorly behaved” 13-year-old — and now she’s unsure whether she should tell the girl’s mother immediately or wait until her friend returns.

In a post on the community forum Mumsnet, the woman explained that she’s watching her friend’s daughter while the friend is away. But after a difficult day, she worried that calling her friend during the trip would only make things worse.

“She’d been going on about how awful her 13-year-old was, and today she really was awful,” she wrote, describing the teen as “very manipulative,” adding that she “ruined everything” and “kept my kids up.”

The woman also said the girl behaved “with rude smirking,” which left her feeling as though the teen might have been trying to provoke a reaction.

“She probably wanted me to call her mom and disrupt things further,” she wrote, adding that she initially considered staying quiet so her friend could enjoy the weekend. “She knows how bad the girl is already.”

Fearing she might be handling it the wrong way, the woman asked other users whether keeping it to herself for now would be unreasonable.

Some commenters agreed the mother should be told — but not at the expense of derailing the trip.

“She needs to know,” one person replied, adding that it may have been smart not to “ruin her weekend” if that was what the teen was hoping for. Still, they said the situation should be addressed once the mother is back.

Another commenter suggested the behavior sounded more serious than typical teenage attitude.

“It sounds to me like the daughter needs professional help,” they wrote. “It is not normal behavior to wake kids up when you are a guest in someone else’s house.”

They also offered a clear way to set boundaries going forward: if the mother asks again, say no.

“If she ever asks you to have her again just say, ‘No sorry it didn’t go very well last time,’” the commenter advised. “You need to put the boundary in that the mother won’t.”