Mom Sparks Fury

A mother has sparked fury online when she asked the public to ‘normalize’ charging other parents for their children’s playdates.

In a video on TikTok, she explained in a video that her daughter recently had a friend over to their house – and when the playdate was finished she asked the other girl’s mom to Venmo her $15.

She cited expenses such as chalk and ‘wear and tear’ on the couch, as well as the price of her child using supplies in the bathroom three times.

Since it was first uploaded in early June, the video has received more than 3.5 million views. Many people have openly disagreed with her idea, claiming that it would simply prevent her daughter from having playdates in the future.

But the mum, who posts under the handle @shay.nanigans87 and whose profile identifies her as a ‘rage baiter’ and ‘child support hunter’ – insists it is just a way for families to even out the costs of their get-togethers.

‘Can we normalize sending the other family money for playdates?’ she asks in the video with a straight face.

She continues by describing how she approached the mother of her daughter’s friend for money, showing screenshots of her exchange with the other mother.

In the first message she writes: ‘Thanks for letting Jamie play today, please help out with your share of the expenses for the playdate totalling $15 via Venmo! Let’s do it again soon!’

‘Because I can’t keep doing these playdates if it’s so expensive,’ the TikTok mother explains in her video. 

But the other mother, identified in the video only as ‘Melissa,’ seemed taken aback by the request, asking: ‘Expenses?’

At that point, the mum explains that her daughter used ‘supplies and food while she was here and this way we can do this more often without a monetary obligation on just one party.’

When Melissa asked which expenses she was referring to, the TikToker noted that her daughter had applesauce and fruit, had three juice boxes, played with chalk, used the bathroom three times and sat on the couch – which she said caused ‘wear and tear.’

Ultimately, the frugal mum said Melissa paid her the $15 she requested, and she thanked her.

‘I just received the money, thank you so much,’ she wrote in a message.

‘Hopefully, this will make it easier for us to do these playdates more in the future.’

But many online believed her actions will have the opposite effect – and will wind up alienating her daughter from her classmates.

When you invite someone’s child over for a play date, you assume the cost of what those children do, and it’s common courtesy to do so. What the mother did will only guarantee that the child will never be able to have friends come over again, and will probably most likely get shunned by the other children at school. Parents talk to other kids’ parents and she has outed herself by posting this, the other parents would have because parents talk to other parents.

Clearly, this woman was never taught how to behave politely or with grace. Unless, of course, one is operating a hotel, which she was not, hospitality is always free. You don’t charge for services provided when a youngster stays at your house.

It’s shameful that this woman even charged the mother for her toilet trips! I bet she was running behind the child with a calculator as well.

This seems to be the normal Gen Z entitlement. Don’t they realise that you host them, and then they host your children so it all balances out?

I would not have given this woman anything unless, of course, we had already agreed upon it.

When my children had their friends over, I used to treat them as my guests. Coming to my home was a special treat for their friends. I would make them welcome and my home when they were there was like their home. I would feed them and make sure they were comfortable if they were having a sleepover, and if my children wanted a sleepover with their friends I made sure I could afford it before they arrived, otherwise, I would tell my children not this week.

The mother should have charged her back for the cost of her child’s entertainment and providing friendship to her child, that way they would have been even and then they could have just called it quits.