What to Know
A day at the beach turned into no picnic for one mom after an uncomfortable encounter with another family. The mom, who has a toddler, shared a video on TikTok explaining that she is trying to teach her daughter how to make friends. As a fellow mom of an only child, and an only child myself, it’s an important skill for little ones to learn from a very young age.
However, she was shocked and saddened when her fellow parents and their small children weren’t receptive to her daughter.
Allie Hagerty, a mom who lives in New England with her husband and two-year-old daughter Charlotte, was on vacation when she had the awkward encounter. In her video, which was filmed on the beach shortly after, she explained that she’s taught Charlotte how to go up to kids and introduce herself.
Hagerty went on to explain that her daughter saw two other little girls who looked to be around her age on the beach while playing with her dad.
“My name’s Charlotte, what’s your name?” she asked, attempting to make friends with them.
As this was happening, Allie described her own encounter with the mom of the two girls. And it sounded super awkward. Meanwhile, her daughter was having her own awkward encounter with the girls and their dad, who didn’t seem so interested in making friends.
“The mom was SO weird when I asked how old her daughters were and didn’t even ask how old Charlotte was,” she wrote in the video’s caption. “And the dad STARED at her. And then looked at us like wtf is your kid doing? Let’s be inclusive. Let’s teach our children to welcome others to their table. Being an only child is hard and it takes GUTS to go and make new friends.”
Many people in the comments took the side of the other parents.
“Everyone is free to enjoy their day at the beach as they please. If they don’t want to socialize they don’t have to,” one person wrote.
“Normalize that not everyone wants to interact with everyone,” another commenter wrote.
“Not everyone has to be your friend or be bubbly and friendly. That’s not everyone’s personality. It’s not their responsibility to protect feelings by engaging and being friendly. Some people are just shy or just don’t like other people and that’s fine,” someone else wrote.
Others called out those commenters, and honestly, I agree.
“This is so sad and then I read the comments and it’s even sadder.. don’t go outside if you don’t want to potentially have to communicate with other ppl jeeze!” someone wrote.
“Ok I get it the family may have wanted to be left alone but they didn’t have to act rude, especially to your daughter. Those are weird people for sure,” a commenter added.
“I agree with you. It is just play time for kids. Stop thinking it is a lifetime commitment. It is simple beach time.”
Look, you don’t have to be best friends with other parents at the beach or the playground. But it doesn’t take much to say hello or nod and encourage your kids to make friends for a few hours. Your kids look to you as an example on how to interact with the outside world.
If the parents genuinely didn’t want their children to interact with Hagerty’s, they could have very easily said so. You can be respectful without being overly friendly.
