Dear Snarky,
Last month my son went with his best friend’s family to Disney World. I paid for my son’s airfare and all his Disney expenses including food. I even gave the family $200 to cover any trip incidentals. Since they got back the mom of my son’s best friend has been hinting how much her son would L-O-V-E to go to the beach with our family in two weeks. She’s done everything but outright ask if her son can go with us on our vacation. My issue is I have three kids and I really don’t want a fourth one tagging along. Also, we only booked one hotel room for a family of 5. That’s already kind of tight. I’m I now obligated to bring her son? Help!
Signed, Vacation Mama
Dear Vacation Mama,
The simple answer is you are in no way required to practice any sort of vacation quid pro quo. You covered your reciprocal bases by paying all the expenses for your son’s Disney trip. The bad news is you’re going to have to now put on your big girl panties and tell the mom who keeps on dropping suitcase size hints about her son hitching a ride on your vacay that it’s not going to happen. Blame it on the one hotel room (I mean really you could be exceeding the fire code or at the very least hotel occupancy rules) or simply tell her the truth – your 3 kids is the max you can handle. Anything else might send you right over the edge into Crazy Town. You also might want to throw in that there is the very real possibility that her son could be so scarred from the experience of an extended stay with your family he may require prolonged mental health therapy. Any mom should be able to understand that. Oh and the next time that mom asks if your son can go anywhere with them outside the city limits say a big “No Thank You”.
Snarky in the Suburbs 