The study is a qualitative investigation of mothers' perspectives about and their role in negotiating and developing intergenerational closure across race, class, and religious differences and their management of children's diverse friendships. Black and White mothers (n = 25) of third graders were interviewed about social networks, children's friendships, and closure relationships. Race, class, and faith were critical vantage points from which parents thought about social difference and managed closure relationships. Mothers' involvement in diverse networks reflected articulated ideologies, socialization goals, and active engagement of strategies to build relationships between parents and children. However, de facto social barriers and ideologies about the invisibility of social differences created barriers to building intergenerational closure across social differences as did mothers' perceptions of these relationships as threats to aspired to or salient identities and values.