
There are certainly plenty of upsides to having a tween. (No. 1 being they are finally somewhat self-sufficient.) They are also starting to turn into independent little people with minds of their own. But the fact that they also have zero filters and often start speaking their mind can pose some awkward situations. Add to the mix that they practically live on social media, and things can get messy. One mom was recently faced with this, after her 12-year-old daughter "roasted" her friend's mom (who happens to be mom's good friend as well) on Instagram over her anti-vaxx beliefs.
In an anonymous Reddit post, the mom said that aside from the whole anti-vaxx thing, she and the girl's mother actually get along great.

To keep the peace between them, the mom shared that she mostly doesn't bring up vaccinations at all. But apparently, her daughter hasn't been as good about holding back.
"She and my daughter are friends on social media," the mom wrote in a Reddit post that has since been deleted. "Today the mom posted a vid on anti-vaxx and my daughter who has yet to learn that you can't just spew word vomit at anyone you please decided to comment."
Eeeeek.
"Apparently, she roasted her friend's mom pretty hard," the poster continued, and the day ended with an angry text from the other mom "demanding I silence my wayward child on the subject of vaccines because she doesn't want her daughter corrupted by mine."
Oh boy.
The anonymous Redditor admitted that several of her daughter's comments were, in fact, straight-up rude. (She apparently wrote things like, "Faaaaaake" and "Don't believe everything you see on the internet.")
Even though the poster ultimately sides with her daughter's logic, she does not agree with her the delivery.
"I responded with a 'Sorry my kid was a jerk,'" the mom recalled, "but I don't think it's my responsibility to help her misinform her own child or prevent my kid from freely speaking the truth."
As a result, navigating the issue hasn't been easy.
"I have to be careful here because I don't want my daughter to lose her friend, but I also don't know what to say that won't sound rude or start a pointless debate," the poster continued. "I've already gotten two more texts with the mom trying to recruit me to the dark side. Help."
Some people on Reddit were actually proud of the mom's daughter for speaking up for her beliefs.
"See, where you went wrong was saying 'Sorry my kid was a jerk' instead of 'Boom. Roasted.'" one commenter said.
And another person strongly advised her not to apologize.
"At this point, perhaps try adding: 'I'm sorry my daughter's recitation of facts upset you, but I'm proud of her understanding of science. I'm glad she's confident in herself. I hope knowing I love her enough to want to keep her from dying of preventable diseases contributed to that,'" the person shared. "Stop appeasing her friend's mother and her crazy."
"Your kid is not a jerk," another person asserted. "Your kid is awesome. And you’re an awesome parent for [rais]ing a kid who isn’t a doormat and understands science and how it works. Good job, momma!"
"Give your kid a gold star and a high five!" another chimed in. "Sorry you have to deal with the mom though, personally I’d just ignore her messages."
Oher people thought the girl's comments were pretty cringey, though.
"I would teach my kid not to use social media posts to soap box," one commenter noted. "I think that avoids situations like this in the future."
Although someone else had a more tempered piece of advice:
"If it’s important to your daughter to keep her friend maybe it’d just be nice to have a causal talk with her about the difference in opinion. You don’t have to walk on eggshells of course but same as you do, you just don’t have to bring up the conversation. I think if she was really being an (expletive) about the way she approached the situation or was deliberately attacking her she should apologize."
"It is your job to teach your kids manners and behaving like this is out of line," a third person wrote. "Yes, [the anti-vaxx mom is] in the wrong for believing this anti-vaxx propaganda, but your parenting skills need some improvement here."
The poster later updated that the anti-vaxx mom ultimately ended up blocking her daughter online, and the poster did have a talk with her kid about social media etiquette.
"I sat my daughter down and had a conversation about anti-vaxxers and other dangerous false information on the internet," she wrote. "Some of her comments were direct quotes from me.
"I can't condone my kid going around being rude to the adults in her life," she wrote. "She has to learn to speak respectfully and bring any problems to me to handle or advise her on how to deal with it. She's still a child who is learning social cues."
That last point can't be forgotten. After all, 12-year-olds still have a lot of growing up and learning to do. They'll make mistakes — it's inevitable. All we can do is be there to guide them.
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.