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Don't like family gatherings

(131 Posts)
Chickenbrain2009 Sat 27-Dec-14 12:12:36

I find that I increasingly dont like being together as a family. I get on well with my children as individuals, but when they are all together somehow I often find myself feeling hurt or upset. The end result is that I am increasingly avoiding being anywhere where they are all together.

I dont like crowds and I increasingly hate Christmas.

Its small things, which, if I had any common sense I would ignore. For example, I coloured my hair. My elder daughter invited us all to meet for lunch, but when we were together my younger daughter told me she didnt like my hair. The others agreed with her. My younger daughter had a party at her house, when I arrived my family were all together as a group ie my children - two other sons and a daughter plus one partner. The first thing they did when I joined them was to all spend a couple of minutes joking about how aweful my hair was. I felt that I was under a barrage of criticism. Of course after a couple of minutes I went to sit down on my own..

On Christmas day as a present for under the tree I had made my daughter a cushion. When she opened it she made no secret of the fact she didn't like it. I was left on the staircase. Sometime during the day it disappeared completely. I noticed it was nowhere in her house. I suspect she had just thrown it out with all the other rubbish.

Later on I went to the loo, all my children agreed that I had made a horrible smell. I didn't notice any smell myself, I may have done, but I left the toilet clean.

A few weeks ago it got back to me that at a meal I wasn't at they had been joking about my toilet in my house being covered with crap, even on the seat. I won't go into how it got back to me, but I did ask my younger daughter if it was true, who denied it strongly.

Am I being over sensitive? Somehow I end up really not wanting to be with them when they are all together, as it seems to give people permission to say or do these things.

I have tried asserting myself back, and I have tried telling them it upsets me, both to no avail The result is that I increasingly just don't want to be around, however that just cuts me off. I just end up feeling hurt. I just wonder how they would feel if I said the same things to them.

Nonu Thu 01-Jan-15 20:38:05

Just read through this ,So sorry you feel the need to go , there is peppery banter on here but MOST of it is harmless, just go with the flow.
As stated 30/12, 1.13 some people as they age , don"t have a sense of humour, women in particular. Pity really.
Laughter is the spice of life, we have to try and remember that!
,
As it said on a plaque I was given at Christmas,

We don"t stop laughing because we grow old ,
We grow old because we stop laughing.
tchsmile

Ana Thu 01-Jan-15 20:30:48

Eh? confused

Sweetness1 Thu 01-Jan-15 20:13:57

Show them your message on here.. They may realise it's not funny!

Riverwalk Thu 01-Jan-15 20:12:26

The odd passing comment is hardly constant introspection confused

Elegran Thu 01-Jan-15 20:01:22

Can I be a pedant for just a moment? A person who lives in Crete is a Cretan with an A. A cretin with an I is someone whose thyroid has never worked properly, and as a result they are very very slow to learn - these days it is detected at birth and dealt with, but not so long ago it was a medical definition for certain kind of "mental defective", who had a distinctive appearance too, and then it became a playground insult.

That is the reason I thought that it was a not very funny pun on Cretan.

Don't be chased away by the discussion of your username. It is not malicious, just the result of posters being puzzled why you chose it! It is a most uncomplimentary name.

Ariadne Thu 01-Jan-15 19:38:51

So sorry, Cretin please reconsider.

NO, jingl!!!!

Cretin Thu 01-Jan-15 19:33:47

RIP ... Cretin who once enjoyed a daily dabble into gransnet ... Bye bye to some decent people who supported me when I needed a shoulder to cry on when my grandaughter was diagnosed with a life limiting condition . I'm deleting my account because I really do have more wholesome things to do with my life rather than this constant introspection into my username .....

Smileless2012 Tue 30-Dec-14 22:07:42

I am not a depressed and joyless person Stansgran which is why my user name is Smileless as opposed to joyless or depressed. I suppose I can see why you've jumped to the completely wrong conclusion as you've never read any of my posts, long or short, but you are quite correct when you say that I have made may valid and valuable points. Very insightful of you considering you've never read any of them.

Far from being determined to be unhappy, I'm determined not to be and am also determined for others not to be made unhappy either. Why produce a tear in some ones eye, when you can just as easily raise a smile.

Stansgran Tue 30-Dec-14 21:59:47

I'm more MalbecwithatouchofSauvignonBlancbutneverrefuseVintageChampagne . Much too long for a user name.

Galen Tue 30-Dec-14 21:57:40

Eglantine if anything please!

merlotgran Tue 30-Dec-14 21:55:59

Like mine, you mean? wine tchgrin

Stansgran Tue 30-Dec-14 21:55:41

Shiteme depending on how you pronounce it could well be something delightfully /disgustingly raw Japanese. Oh please have some sashimi shiteme with rice crackers and salmon skin and Unami sprinkled on top . The wasabi and pickled plums are just next to it. Very Abigail's party 20012

Stansgran Tue 30-Dec-14 21:48:58

You may or may not be suggesting I live in the past JBF and cretins thank god don't seem to be born anymore tho I may be wrong but believe you me you don't forget. And I still think a chosen name reflects an outlook on life.

Smileless2012 Tue 30-Dec-14 21:42:01

Oh jinglbellsfrocks you do make metchgrin; don't change your user name, I think it's great.

jinglbellsfrocks Tue 30-Dec-14 21:38:47

I think I might ask GNHQ if I can change my forum name to shiteme. I quite like that.

Smileless2012 Tue 30-Dec-14 21:38:40

I think we should worry about the impression that's given to a poster who is genuinely looking for advice and has their chosen user name questioned Ana, and when a poster who seeks to give advice is criticized for the choice of their user name, due to connotations being linked to it, that were never intended. I don't think the same can be said of the examples you gave.

jinglbellsfrocks Tue 30-Dec-14 21:31:52

Yes, but not everyone lives in the past anymore.

And it's not as though anyone is actually calling another person that. That would obviously be wrong. But - a forum name - offensive?! confused

Stansgran Tue 30-Dec-14 21:28:09

Jingle much as I have struggled I can find no humour in the word Cretin. I heard it used about people in a children's home near me when I was young and impressionable .it was a terrible place.

Soutra Tue 30-Dec-14 21:26:43

Nonu and Soutra. -antagonistic? Nous? tchgrin

Stansgran Tue 30-Dec-14 21:24:36

I had no idea that Cretin was for someone who had associations with Crete and in fact find it horrid because yes I assumed thay were saying that they were stupid as I assume that Smileless is a depressed joyless person and that Chicken something or other is weak and cowardly out of choice.jingle you may think that we shouldn't criticise others names but I make a point of not reading Smiless' posts even though I'm sure she has made many valid and valuable points in her long posts but I feel her name means that she is determined to be unhappy. I'm sure she has posted on cheerful subjects but I don't have to read them equally she doesn't have to read mine and im sure she never bothers. I always try to read the two Janes and kittylester and can never understand the antagonism between Nonu and Soutra neither of whose names I've ever worked out the derivation. I enjoy reading Granjura and find Galen interesting as we have The works of Galen on kindle in Latin here. I think I judge books by their covers.

jinglbellsfrocks Tue 30-Dec-14 21:23:47

And I think if you lived in Outer Mongolia and so called yourself 'Mongol' that would be ok.

jinglbellsfrocks Tue 30-Dec-14 21:21:02

I think to live on Crete and so choose 'cretin' as a forum name, is quite funny really.

Ana Tue 30-Dec-14 20:52:28

If the names I mentioned would not be OK, 'obviously', why is cretin fine, then, Smileless? Threads do wander, as you know. I'm not sure we should be constantly worrying about what impression others are getting of Gransnet either.

Smileless2012 Tue 30-Dec-14 20:16:31

Oh for goodness sake people; is this really the impression we want to give of Grans Net?

A lady posts on this site for the first time with a heart breaking account of how she is being treated by her children and Jane10 questions whether she's chosen her user name because of 'low self esteem'. Well, if she does have low self esteem that wont have helped her very much will it.

Then Cretin's user name along with my own is questioned. This poster lives in Crete; work it out ladies.

No Ana, spastic, spaz or moron would not be OK, obviously. What makes you think Elegran that it was Cretin's intention to be humorous? She's already explained that she chose this name because she lives in Crete. I can't imagine that any one would pick the names mongol or nigger as an attempt at humor.

I agree jinglbellfrocks this is indeed total rubbish. I agree with you too papaoscar but only after my dear hubby explained to me what you meant by 'foxtrot oscar'tchblush.

There are indeed limits, and they've certainly been reached on here.

papaoscar Tue 30-Dec-14 19:43:12

I think if they treated me like that, Cb2009, I'd have told them to stop being so b........ rude or I'd 'foxtrot oscar'. There are limits!