I believe the readers are missing an important aspect of the article. The two teenagers are KIDS! The mother drove 2 1/2 hours to deliver what was supposed to be just the son. Why would the mother, the adult in the situation, not tell her son that he needed to call his dad and ask if he could bring a buddy? Or, why didn't she call her ex and say, "Johnny wants to bring a friend, is it okay?". While the step-mother gave no hint of the relationship, whether friendly or acrimonious, I can imagine a divorced mother doing something inconsiderate such as this as a way to get to be vicious, in an underhanded way. The mother put the father in a no-win situation. It was inconsiderate and isn't teaching her son good manners by behaving this way.

Yeah, probably. Seriously, isn't this the kind of thing you sign up for when you marry someone with kids from a previous marriage? Send their laundry back dirty and go on. It's no reason to take it out on the kids.

ann.byrum:

I believe the readers are missing an important aspect of the article. The two teenagers are KIDS! The mother drove 2 1/2 hours to deliver what was supposed to be just the son. Why would the mother, the adult in the situation, not tell her son that he needed to call his dad and ask if he could bring a buddy? Or, why didn't she call her ex and say, "Johnny wants to bring a friend, is it okay?". While the step-mother gave no hint of the relationship, whether friendly or acrimonious, I can imagine a divorced mother doing something inconsiderate such as this as a way to get to be vicious, in an underhanded way. The mother put the father in a no-win situation. It was inconsiderate and isn't teaching her son good manners by behaving this way.

I didn't get the impression that she didn't know that he was bringing a friend, just that she was upset that the friend was sick and still came. I think if the friend was healthy (and perhaps neater) this would have been a nonissue.

It is disrespectful of the ex-wife to allow the son to bring the sick friend in the first place; in the second place 17 1/2 is not a child; he is old enough to be considerate in anyone's home, his as well as others. I don't believe that the friend was a buffer at all but an example of how disrespectful he is to both is father and step-mother... he can't be away from his friend for a weekend with his family? I can understand the step-mother's feelings completely.