Your Kids Will Have Friends
Yo u D o n ’ t L i ke
“Oh no, not Mickey Brown—again!” This was my mother’s cry
every Saturday morning. She hated Mickey Brown. Loathed
and detested him with a vengeance. Why? I have no idea. She
disliked most of my friends, but she saved up all the venom
for poor Mickey Brown, whom she took against before she
ever met him.
Look, your children will sometimes have friends you don’t
approve of. It’s natural. Live with it. As kids, we are attracted
to other kids who are different from us. It’s our way of finding
out. We go for the very poor kid or the very rich kid because
we have no experience of it and want to know what it is like.
We go for the ruffian or the spoiled princess or the kid from a
different ethnic background to ours or the ragged urchin who
smells or the autistic kid or the one from the gypsy encamp-
ment or the smug middle-class one whose parents are
accountants.
Whatever it is, as parents, we will be tempted to disapprove.
It’s human nature, but we mustn’t. We must be supportive,
encouraging, welcoming, and open. Why? Because if our child
is hanging out with other kids that test our tolerance, it’s a
good thing. It shows we are bringing them up not to be preju-
diced or judgmental. And if they aren’t acting this way, we
shouldn‘t either.
The funny thing is that Mickey Brown’s parents couldn’t stand
me either. He wasn’t allowed to play with guns, and I was
always smuggling them into his house when his parents