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How would you treat a son-in-law who acts like you've died?

Asked by Aster (20023points) October 9th, 2012

My son in law, I will call, “B”, has gone out of his way to act like I’m dirt. In fifteen years we have not been invited to his house for dinner unless it’s a birthday party and my daughter invited us for ice cream and cake. He has never called me once. He has never come over to our house for Thanksgiving even when my daughter comes. He has never come on Christmas when his kids unwrap their gifts. I can tell when my daughter has ordered him to kiss me on the cheek when at a church function; he does not look at me when I’m talking. I am sick and tired of buying him Christmas gifts when he only mentions it when he is forced to face me. I want to be honest and say that when he was first married they came over a few times and my husband complained that their son was playing right in front of the tv screen when the football game was on and accused the boy of wanting attention. After a year that was the end of him visiting. He tries to make up for it by earning a lot of money and being very generous with my daughter and two kids although for two years he has lived over 100 miles from them in an apartment his company pays for since they made him an offer he didn’t wish to refuse. He likes my daughter and kids to spend most weekends with him in the apartment but I have no idea if part of this living at a distance is to avoid raising a teenage boy. He also in my opinion likes the feeling of being away from my daughter who, while a perfectionist in everything she does, dislikes him drinking beer and eating too much. Now he’s obese since he moved and is having knee pain and sleep apnea. He tries otherwise to be a great dad, taking his son skeet shooting and attending his football games. I have a warm feeling in my heart for him only because he is my daughter’s husband but in another way I can’t stand him . One thing that we know he detests is we have tried to help my other daughter for years in many ways due to her mental and financial problems. He sees it as giving money to a total loser who is worthless and he works very hard for his money and has since he was fifteen. Should I continue to buy him gifts? Be warm and friendly when I run into him? Or make it a goal that he’ll notice I am ignoring him as much as possible? He is very smart and very strong in many ways and I almost fear him and what he could do to me when I’m old. Even lectures from him would be unbearable; I got one years ago and he spoke as if he knew everything. She will, in a few short years, be the only family I have. I only buy him gifts so my daughter won’t have her feelings hurt.

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