My H admitted to me the other night that he no longer likes visiting his own family, that he now sees much of what I've been saying for a while now. I asked him how he came to this point and he explained that some things happened the last time he went to his parent's house with our kids.
Background: My FIL is strongly conservative, watches Fox News every day and doesn't get any outside perspective from friends or family. As a result, most of his conversations are about how much he dislikes Obama, how our country is going to he-- in a hand basket, etc. I am on the liberal side and my H is a true moderate. Because my H cannot have a direct conversation with his parents (that's another story), he has resorted to telling his mom that it is best to avoid political topics when we see them. His mother then relays that to his father. Unfortunately, it seems to not have worked. It seems like his father thinks I am the one who doesn't like these conversations, so he tries to not talk politics around me.
Back to the last visit: My H said that on at least 3 occasions my MIL had to say something like, "can we talk about something else" when my FIL was ranting about something. His response to one of these times was to tell his wife that "I'm trying to 'de-liberalize' my son!"
I have encouraged my H to have a conversation with his dad, but he won't. It's to the point that he doesn't even want to see them anymore. He proposed that we skip Thanksgiving with them, but acknowledged that they would be hurt if we did. Our kids also love them and they are the only grandparents they have now.
I'm writing this because I read so many hateful and angry rants on the political forum. I wonder if those posters are driving others away and either don't know it or don't care. It's not worth it!
Background: My FIL is strongly conservative, watches Fox News every day and doesn't get any outside perspective from friends or family. As a result, most of his conversations are about how much he dislikes Obama, how our country is going to he-- in a hand basket, etc. I am on the liberal side and my H is a true moderate. Because my H cannot have a direct conversation with his parents (that's another story), he has resorted to telling his mom that it is best to avoid political topics when we see them. His mother then relays that to his father. Unfortunately, it seems to not have worked. It seems like his father thinks I am the one who doesn't like these conversations, so he tries to not talk politics around me.
Back to the last visit: My H said that on at least 3 occasions my MIL had to say something like, "can we talk about something else" when my FIL was ranting about something. His response to one of these times was to tell his wife that "I'm trying to 'de-liberalize' my son!"
I have encouraged my H to have a conversation with his dad, but he won't. It's to the point that he doesn't even want to see them anymore. He proposed that we skip Thanksgiving with them, but acknowledged that they would be hurt if we did. Our kids also love them and they are the only grandparents they have now.
I'm writing this because I read so many hateful and angry rants on the political forum. I wonder if those posters are driving others away and either don't know it or don't care. It's not worth it!
Put the internet to work for you.
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