I am new and didn't know where to turn.
I have three sons, the oldest son is married and he lives quiet far away. We usually see him a few times a year, sometimes his wife will come and see us as well. This particular daughter in law is shy but overall I believe we get on ok.
My second son lives about an hour away. We have always been quite close and he is always calling and coming to visit. We don't often have to arrange to see him as he often makes the plans himself. He is not married but he has been with his current girlfriend over a year now. She is lovely and I get on very well with her. She will also often contact us herself and seems to genuinely enjoy spending time with us. She has very good family values.
My youngest son lives the closest to us, he is married and his wife recently had a baby. My first and only grandchild. I have always been pretty close to my youngest child. I don't hear from him as often as I do my second and we often have to make the initiative to invite him over but overall it's rare we would go more than a month without some kind of contact with him.
The problem is my youngest sons wife. On the surface I would say we get on well. She is a very nice and polite girl. She is shy (not as shy as my other daughter in law) and often keeps herself to herself. I have tried to get to know her, to find some common ground but it is hard. My oldest sons wife is very into fashion and beauty so we can bond over that. My second sons girlfriend is very easy to talk to, and she is quiet happy to sit there with us over a bottle of wine and some food for hours. My youngest sons wife however I struggle.
She is very resistant to talk about herself. I have had mixed results talking about her family or her work. She is polite and will listen if I talk about myself. We don't really share any common interests. In fact whenever I do try to talk to her it always feels like she is waiting for a polite moment to leave the conversation.
She is not as bad with other members of our family but overall you can tell that she doesn't enjoy getting together with us and after an hour or so she is ready to leave. My son says that she finds social situations difficult and doesn't enjoy them. I find this odd, how can you not like spending time with people? My son says her family rarely have huge get togethers. He says she finds the number of get togethers we have overwhelming.
I know however her problems with me run deeper than just being shy and socially awkward. I first noticed a change in her when they were planning their wedding. I tried to help them out as much as I could, from my perspective it looked like they were struggling. Her parents didn't seem to be helping at all, so I took it upon myself to help them out. Eventually it got harder to get an answer from her, when I questioned my son he said she felt that I was taking over. He said that she feels like this is my wedding and that she isn't even sure if she wants to show up. I was shocked and upset. I was only trying to help and if she didn't like something then why didn't she just say?
On the day of the wedding my son was very nervous that she wouldn't turn up. She was still angry at my involvement and by this point, apparently, so was her family. In the end she did turn up and it was a wonderful day. She seemed to enjoy herself, and although she seemed to be actively avoiding me I assumed that she would now appreciate my help. I was wrong because after the wedding I started seeing less of her. I asked my son about this and apparently she was still angry about the wedding and she blames me for ruining her day. She feels like she got the wedding I always dreamed of. They got married in 2010 and as far as I am aware she is still pissed off about the wedding.
A few years ago my son and daughter in law were having a few financial problems and they had to move out of their home. They had nowhere else to go so they decided to move in with us. I saw this as my chance to finally get to know her. I wanted her to feel comfortable and welcomed into our home. I told them that all we expected was rent. We would take care of all the household shopping, cooking, cleaning, and laundry. As long as they tidied up after themselves and paid their rent on time they didn't have to worry about anything else. This didn't go down well with her, apparently, she insisted that she at least did their laundry.
It seemed silly to me, if I was already regularly doing my own laundry that she would then do her own but to keep the peace I agreed. The laundry soon became a bit of a battle, as I predicted we often wanted the washing machine at the same time. She would often throw my clothes on the side and then put her own washing in. I also like to hang my clothes outside. We don't have much room to hang washing inside, plus I feel they dry better outside. My daughter in law seemed to take offence to this and insisted on only drying her washing inside no matter what the weather.
A few times I would move her washing outside and she would then angrily move it back inside. After a while she stopped taking her washing upstairs if it was dry, she would leave it laying around for a couple of days. If I attempted to take it upstairs for them this was met with the same anger as when I moved their washing outside. In the end I gave up and just let her do what she wanted. I was fed up trying to fight her.
She also slowly became withdrawn from us. When they first moved in my daughter in law made an effort to spend time with us but very quickly she became withdrawn. Towards the end I never knew if she was in. It was almost like she would sneak in and out of the house. If she was in then she would go straight to the bedroom and close the door. I have no idea what she did in there because you would never hear a sound unless my son was home.
She also rarely ate anything. Before she lived with us, she didn't have a huge appetite but she would at least finish a meal. Slowly over time she would eat less and less around us. If I made a comment then she would claim that she wasn't hungry. I started giving her less and less food but still she refused to finish a meal. She started to loose weight which worried me because she was very thin to begin with. I started buying food which I know she likes but she didn't touch it. I raised my concerns to my son, he told me that it made her uncomfortable when we spoke about her appetite and eating habits, he said we should just leave her alone.
They lived with us for just over a year and then suddenly my son announced that they were moving out and they were going to live with my daughter in laws parents. This wasn't a huge shock to me, by this point we were barely speaking. I was however extremely upset, I felt like I failed. All I wanted was for her to like us and for her to feel like she was part of the family. After they moved out I asked my son why they left. I knew the answer before he told me but I wanted confirmation. He said that my daughter in law thought we were interfering and that her every move was being watched. She felt that she never had any privacy and that we were constantly judging her. They are still living with get parents and they seem to be getting on well, they do their own shopping, cooking, cleaning, and laundry. They also seem to have exclusive use of two rooms. We still don't see her often and if she does come over they never stay for long.
She must have fell pregnant roughly four months after they moved in with her parents. When they told us she was pregnant I was over the moon, I never thought I would ever have grandchildren. Out of my three sons my youngest was always the most likely to have children but my daughter in law always stated that she didn't want them. I am not sure what changed, they haven't really stated whether the baby was planned or not, but I was ecstatic.
My daughter in law struggled during the first trimester and also at the very end but overall she had a very straightforward pregnancy. She ended up giving birth 8 days before her due date to my beautiful grandson. I thought that her pregnancy and having a baby may finally give us something in common. I hoped that finally she would feel comfortable being with us and we could put the past behind us.
I saw even less of my daughter in law whilst she was pregnant. I went to a lot of trouble of buying food and drink which suited her current food tolerances and cravings but a lot of it got chucked away. I tried to talk to her about how she is feeling, what things she had/ what she still needed, her maternity leave plans, childcare plans, and how people around her are treating her. She was polite, answered all my questions but basically nothing changed. She still doesn't want to spend longer than is polite speaking to me. I asked my son and daughter in law if there was anything we could do or buy to help them out, and the answers was no. They had everything under control, they didn't need help from anyone. I was extra careful after the wedding not to interfere or give any advice but she still didn't seem happy!
My grandson is here now and my son had 4 weeks off work when he was first born. During this time my son sent us lots of pictures and we saw my grandson 5 times, the last time my son bought the baby on his own. He stated that his wife needed some time to herself. My son is back at work now and I have no idea really when we will next see the baby. We have a few family things planned in the summer which my son says they are coming to but in the mean time it's gone very quiet. My son hasn't sent any pictures and I doubt my daughter in law will bring the baby round herself.
Before the baby my son visited us at least every couple of months, either with or without his wife. I did hope that now the baby is here that we would see them more often but I don't think that will be the case. I don't think my daughter in law is purposely stopping me from seeing my son or grandson but I don't think she is planning on making any effort to see me herself. This is upsetting for not only myself but also my husband. We just don't know what more we can do.
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