Freak Swap

My coworker's child recently became friends with a kid who other parents warned eir about. It's not so much the kid who concerns the adults, but the kid's mother. The mother is alternative to the extreme, with copious face piercings and tattoos. My coworker, however, being the accepting person that ey is, decided to look past the exterior. After talking to the mother on the phone a couple of times, ey determined that she sounded like a perfectly responsible, competent parent, complete with a saccharine voice to counter her image. Consequently, ey has allowed eir kid to play with "freaky" mother's kid on a couple of occasions now.

Shortly before Halloween, my coworker's kid asked for permission to trick-or-treat with said friend. Doing the responsible thing, my coworker called the mother to hash out the details. Upon calling the mother, however, my coworker found herself speaking to an unfamiliar voice. As it turned out, the person on the other end of the phone was the kid's "new mom," the result of a trade on the reality show Wife Swap. After those details were hastily explained, the new mother gave a dramatic rant about how good Christians shouldn't celebrate the devil's holiday and how she has no intention of letting her "kids" participate. Wanting nothing to do with the scenario, my coworker ended the conversation as soon as it was possible to get a word in edgewise.

Apparently, the friend's plan was to get some other kid's parent to allow em to trick or treat instead. Not wanting to become a subplot on an inane reality show, my coworker forbid any interaction with this other family. Ey is neither willing to subject eir child to the cameras nor do anything to antagonize the religious right.

"I can't believe that kid's mom would participate in that show!" my coworker said. "She really is a freak."