My wife and I had some friends over recently for a play date, and as usual the house was utter mayhem. The parents were enjoying some social time, while the kids were swimming and playing on the swing set. As the evening started to wind down, the mosquitoes came out and forced everyone inside. The crowd started to thin, and the one family of kids that was left wandered into my daughter's room. Her room is a bit small and she has a lofted bed, which always makes me nervous when friends come over to play. I decided to stay close to the door to make random checks on behavior. Good thing I did.

About the fourth peek into the room I witnessed some of her friends preparing to leap from the lofted bed into a pile of pillows on the tile floor. I gave them a nice warning, telling them calmly that this was not acceptable and if it happened again they would not be able to play in her room any more. I walked away thinking I had solved the potential disaster. No luck.

Upon my next peek into the room, I came across the same scene with the same kids. I made good on my threat and kicked them all out of her room.

Since the hour was getting late and bedtimes were fast approaching, this move was enough to have the parents call it a night. We said our goodbyes, and put the kids to bed.

A few weeks go by, and my wife realizes that the friends who children were leaping off of my daughter's bed had "unfriended" us on Facebook. After seeing them post on another friend's wall, my wife asked them what had happened. She later received a long email explaining that they were extremely upset with me for "yelling at and touching their children". Wow. Talk about a wake up call.

This was a couple who I considered to be pretty good friends. We had been camping with them, plus many birthday parties and dinner dates. This was really unexpected, especially since I was searching my mind to try and figure out what I had done wrong.

As I replayed the events of that night back in my head, I remember working with my friend to corral our kids out of my daughter's bedroom. At one point I remember my friend saying "don't touch my kid" as I was guiding his son out, and I honestly thought he was kidding.

As they were packing up to go, I was helping him gather his things and get the kids to their minivan. The kids were ignoring their dad and started banging on our piano on their way out. I once again thought I was helping by steering the boys out the front door. This time the "Don't touch my kid!" was more firm, and I realized he wasn't kidding. I apologized and we said our goodbyes.

I guess my offenses were enough to end our friendship, but I'm honestly at a loss here. We regularly have large gatherings in our house with many kids, and it is not uncommon for any of the parents to have to do a little crowd control. I guess this is where parenting methods can lead to determining who you're most compatible with as a parent.

Have you ever ended a friendship over parenting styles?