How much drama is in your family?

Ranging from this much (once every few years) till this much (fortunately most of the time).

Pretty much none. (We’re also repressed.)

None. just the way I like it.
I’m easy going, upfront, honest and not a drama queen, and have zero tolerance for messed up personalities that revel in drama. Get a life, go away.

Too damn much

At the moment, not much. In the past, with a death of a relative and subsequent fight over inheritance (previous generation fight, not mine), there was a lot. This was about 10 -15 years ago. Then another relative died about 3 years ago, and more fighting. Right now, all is well. Unfortunately, some in the family don’t speak to each other, and family gatherings are kind of fractured.

In my own home there is little or no drama. It’s a wonderful change from earlier times in my time where drama was so far off the scale, I can’t bear to discuss it.

My Family

My Wife’s Family

I wish that we had had more. My father probably put something in the water designed to make sure my sibs and I never upset our mother.

I could have used a few shouting matches. When I finally was brave enough to row with my mother, I had to resort to not talking to her for several years in order to get her attention.

Then, on the advice of my therapist, I wrote a letter, which she chose to misinterpret. By then I was OK so let it all go. Having my therapist act as surrogate parent was all I needed.

My wife’s family has had a bit of drama due to her mother’s death. They don’t hang out with each other any more. Which means my kids don’t get to see their cousins.

My family is repressed. We were raised never to share anything of a personal nature with anyone else in the family. As a result, there is no drama, but there is also little contact. But who knows? Does it really matter if they know my health issues or not? It’s not like they could offer any support, so as long as they don’t know, no one has to expect anything of them. All is well. And no one let anyone down any further than they already had.

Very little and I like it this way. I get on with in-laws, my husband is good to my mother who lives with us, my stepkids are not pushing too many envelopes.

In the past, the worst family drama involved the infidelity of an in-law couple my ex husband and I were extremely close to. We’d all been hanging out together through being young singles, in each other’s weddings, neighbors, regular socializing buddies so we took it hard. It was almost as if the infidelity was against us too- our trust, our reflections of times together pretty much all got ugligied. Our parents were at odds with us for choosing to keep friends with one partner while ostracizing the other. It was a mean mess that’s had fallout even more than a decade later. Blech. People suck sometimes!

On a scale of 1 to 10 (little to lots), my immediate family is about a 5 right now.

My wife and I both grew up in households that were regularly cranked to 11. In both cases, our mother’s are fearful, paranoid, stress balls who dump their drama on those around them daily.

My wife and I are not exactly chill, but we’re much more level-headed.

None. We are all very laid back and my brothers spouses are pretty laid back.
The only drama we have really had was when our mom died and that was pretty much the usual drama, nothing really hurtful among us.

So much drama:

1. I have a head injured sister (whom I love) who pitches temper tantrums 3 to 10 times a day who lives with us.

2. I have a sister who decided to adopt 3 foster children who was not emotionally stable enough to do so. She has an alcoholic husband and a natural born son who eventually started to abuse the boys.

3. I have another sister who is two steps away from being that hermit in the mountains, is a fervent believer of almost every conspiracy theory out there, and who went off the deep end when my mother died.

4. I have 2 teenagers and a just-about-to-become-teenager. Enough said.

5. I have a MIL who is the most bitter person I’ve ever known. She routinely goes off on me which is why we moved 1000km away from everyone.

BUT at the end of the day we have learned to huddle as a family, look at one another and know that we are all important to each other and we all support one another. My husband and I have come through some amazingly tough situations and we are a stronger couple for it.

Too much on both sides. On my dad’s side he has a mom who calls him all day crying and saying she’s in pain, then calls my mom and telling her to lose weight and that she’s been painting her house and gardening and feels great. He has a brother about to get out of prison. A sister in law who denies her son is autistic and chooses to medicate him into a stupor. Another brother who had two warrants out for back child support. He hasn’t seen his real dad in over 20 years. His stepdad is an alcoholic.

On my mom’s side, she’s crazy. She has a sister who is in her 40’s, doesn’t work, never married, keeps buying dogs, and lives at home. A cousin who just dropped out of high school and goes on benders and stays gone for days. another cousin who wanted a baby with his girlfriend, so they had one, but he doesn’t want to rush things and get married.

Sigh. I’m genuinely curious about what it’s like to have a “normal” family.

@redfeather I keep telling myself that no family is normal…

@tranquilsea it’s just nice to imagine having uncles who aren’t dirt bags and being excited to see family instead of taking preemptive Advil for the migraine that will definitely strike.

Depends on the kid, really, and how much of it they bring to me.

Loads, too much, and like crazy are all understatements.
My family has more drama than those cheesy soaps on TV. And that’s saying something.

“How would you rate the level of drama in your family?”

Between 22 and 23.

…On a scale of…? @Charles?

Zero. We get along very well.

you have no family @Only138

@Dutchess_III Oh yes I do.

I think at present there is no drama, but then I am delusional. A couple years ago there was drama night and day, with a family member suffering severe mental illness. Thankfully that episode came to a successful conclusion.

Not much at all, besides my mom. and me lol

I’m the peacekeeper in the family and rarely ever do anything to upset my mom, dad, stepmom, stepdad or sister. I learned really young that my wishes and opinions had to take the backseat to theirs or I’d catch hell. As an adult, I had to decide if this was a way I wanted to live to have my family around for their good, wonderful and best sides, or stand my ground and lose them all.

I decided to play nice because I do appreciate their good sides. And before anyone says anything, it was a very conscious, thought-out choice to play nice- I don’t feel coerced into it anymore because I chose to do this. So, as long as everyone feels they’re getting what they want, very little drama.

When there is drama, it is usually repressed pretty quickly, silent treatments are used OR the other extreme happens. An example—there was a bit of Facebook drama when my grandma came to visit me. She told my aunt, who never talks to me, about my living habits—and she ridiculed me on FB. Post deleted, end of problem. I didn’t discuss it because it would’ve ended up in a huge dramatic public insult-fest because that’s her way of dealing.

With my kids—very little drama. I’ve taught them to talk it out, and talk more until it’s done, then talk more to be sure.

Our family gets along because we try to be very understanding/tolerant. There are a couple of members who everyone else uses a lot of the Power of Ignore, and one who simply stays home a lot. When he has to attend, he manages to find a quiet corner to disappear in.

In my immediate family, no real drama at present (but in the past, plenty!). My extended family, however, is something out of a Southern Gothic novel. Fortunately, I’m fairly removed from it these days, and only need to deal with it in a titillating sort of way (“He said that, then she did that?? No! Really??”, etc., etc.).

There seems to be much drama in my immediate family.

My mother is going through menopause (she already had depression, stress and addiction issues beforehand). She lies a lot. Her common-law doesn’t respect women very much and does not support her when she really needs it. He doesn’t understand how a relationship works at all. He also doesn’t like when she leaves to visit us kids or anyone else for that matter. He’s an alcoholic and chain smoker with emphysema.

My sister has controlling and anger issues. Though she would never admit it. Sometimes, it seems she has the princess complex. Her boyfriend isn’t too bad ..a bit lazy and immature but overall pleasant.

My brother ..well, he’s a story all on his own; he is a selfish compulsive liar, a cheater in relationships, a “dead beat” dad to two of his children (though he is apparently trying to get better with his daughter), an extremely aggressive driver and rage-aholic, sex-addict and an all around a-hole in general. He seems to only contact us all when he needs something. He thinks he’s perfect and everyone else is crazy. Ugh, and his fiancée ..just ugh. She has got to be one of the most unintelligent and numb minded people I have ever met. I think she makes him feel smart or something. Her family is all kinds of nuts. Most of them are criminals as well.

Then there’s me. I have all kinds of mental disorders; however, oddly enough, I’m the most stable of them all.

Most of the drama comes from my mother, sister and brother – someone always seems to be fighting about something. I usually get stuck in the middle.

My partner’s parents, especially her mother, is fanatically religious. We have been together for 11 years and I still have yet to meet them. Once in awhile her mother goes off on a tantrum about how we are living in sin and blah blah blah. Even her will states that my partner gets nothing if she is in a relationship with a woman. My partner’s brother is a recluse who collects newspapers. Her youngest sister is a princess and gets whatever she desires. Her other sister is quite normal and pleasant though.
My partner, herself, is pretty well rounded. She has her weird things…but we all do.

My father, I don’t know much of what is going on with him. He doesn’t speak to us very much. His wife is a cheating, almost psychotic, screechy woman. Their kids are all incredibly spoiled and run the house there.

Don’t get me wrong, everyone has some great qualities about them too. We all have an amazing sense of humour. Sometimes I think that’s what keeps us together. One big happy dysfunctional family.

If there is drama in my family, its usually due to external factors. However we are each very dramatic in our own ways so discussions are always pretty heated but we are not grudgy, so I’d say we are pretty loving haha.