Family trips are great. Well, right up until they're not! Personality clashes, planning disagreements, lack of personal space and alone time, past unresolved issues that decide to come to light, whatever.
This Redditor, for instance, has managed to catch some flack from her sister-in-law for eating early and skipping family dinner on their first day of vacation; matter of fact, she didn't stop there and also told her off for not preparing breakfast for everyone the next day.
More info: Reddit
Guy asks his hungry wife to wait for his family's arrival to have dinner all together
Image credits: Dziana Hasanbekava (not the actual photo)
She eats anyway and heads to bed early due to being tired from traveling
Image credits: Askar Abayev (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Kampus Production (not the actual photo)
Image source: CompromiseWouldBeNic
“AITA because I ate early?” – this internet user took to one of Reddit’s most judgemental communities, asking its members if she’s indeed a jerk for not waiting for her spouse’s family’s arrival to have dinner. The post managed to garner over 14K upvotes as well as 2.7K comments discussing the situation.
Did you know that according to Terri Apter – a psychologist, former Senior Tutor at Newham College, and author of What Do You Want from Me?: Learning to Get Along with In-Laws – three out of four couples “experience significant conflict with their in-laws”?
Now, it's no big news that relationships are challenging!
It doesn't matter if it's your partner, family, friends, or colleagues – each person has their own history that somehow contributes to what kind of connection you'd be able to build with them.
A mismatch between characters, good old trust issues, emotional baggage, unalike interests, fear of vulnerability, different life stages – there are a million and one reasons that could potentially explain the difficulty in creating a bond.
The good thing, though, is that nobody will force you to be acquaintances with people that you don't click with, and you can easily put an end to that relationship as soon as you'd like; however, those rules, the majority of the time, don't seem to apply to your significant other's family.
Chances are, many of you have either stumbled upon some excruciatingly painful monster-in-law horror stories on the vastness of the web or were even a part of one yourself; unfortunately, you can't program people into accepting you, let alone loving you, simply for getting together with their family member.
These things require time, and although you're not responsible for their feelings, you still need to try and do your part. But! If you get chewed out for simply listening to your body and having an early night, is it really worth trying anymore?
The next morning, she gets cussed out by her sister-in-law for skipping dinner and failing to prepare breakfast
Image credits: Nataliya Vaitkevich (not the actual photo)
As with every r/AmItheA**hole tale, you gotta take it with a pinch of salt, as you never know whether you've been given a full report on how the events went – however, here's what happened with u/CompromiseWouldBeNic:
The couple, their son, and the man's family planned a trip together. They arrived earlier, and everything was going well until the OP's husband suggested she wait until his family's appearance to have dinner – but since it was a long day and the woman was tired from traveling, she went against his wishes, ate, and headed to bed early with their kid.
Fast forward to the next morning; the author of the post woke up rejuvenated, ready to enjoy the presumably long-awaited vacay when suddenly her sister-in-law approached and started ripping her to shreds for eating early and not giving the rest of the fam the opportunity to see her and her son.
Naturally, the OP tried to explain to her that she was tired – however, the woman didn't want to listen and even noted that if she would've forced herself to stay awake, she would've aligned with everyone's schedules, but since she didn't do that, she'll probably pull the same stunt again.
u/CompromiseWouldBeNic's sister-in-law then continued her rant and blasted her for not preparing breakfast for everyone as she was the first one to wake up, which really adds to the whole "monster-in-law" theme.
After the talk, the rest of the relatives seemed to be pretty "standoffish," so the woman decided to take it online and ask for some unbiased opinions.
So, what's your verdict?
Fellow online community members shared their thoughts and opinions
