Chip Chick
Have you ever tried to bond with a kid in your family but struggled because you realized they only wanted gifts and goodies from you?
One woman and her husband recently had to put their feet down and refuse to attend parties and holidays involving her nephew’s kids because they realized they only wanted to see them for gift-giving occasions.
She and her husband are childless, so they’ve grown close to her brother’s three children over the years. Now, her eldest nephew, Tom, has four kids with his wife, Kathy.
While she enjoyed getting to spend time with her brother’s kids, Tom’s kids are a different story. They’re quite rowdy, as Tom and Kathy have adapted a sort of “free-range parenting” technique, and it’s had an impact on family events.
“I used to host the whole family for holidays, but that ended one Easter when they stormed out of my house ten minutes before the meal was served,” she recalled.
“Kathy was angry that my husband and another guest had corrected her kids’ behavior when they were damaging furniture and a wall.”
Kathy and Tom’s kids have become so destructive and hard to manage that her brother, their grandfather, doesn’t invite them to his home anymore.
After the Easter incident, Kathy told her and her husband their family would never set foot in their home again since she felt criticized as a mother.
“No one had criticized her, but she was insulted that others stepped in when she didn’t,” she explained.
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