Adapted from a recent online discussion.
Carolyn: In the middle of a heated argument with my brother, he said my 5-year-old son was really hard to get along with and that was some of the reason he didn’t spend any time with him. My heart dropped to the floor.
The next day I told him how much that hurt me and he apologized, profusely, but Carolyn, I haven’t really seen any change in my brother’s behavior.
I flat-out told him his apology means nothing when his actions haven’t changed, and his response was dismissive. I really feel like he is uninterested in developing a relationship with my child. He has a very cozy relationship with his partner’s nieces. What can I do? This hurts.
APOLOGY NOT ENOUGH
Of course it does. But, have you dropped your defenses enough to consider that maybe your son and your brother don’t mix too well?
As hard as it can be to be objective about this, we all are better for being willing to detach our own feelings of pride, accomplishment and acceptance from other people’s opinions of our kids. I’m sure you’ve come across children you don’t like very much. Certainly you don’t like every adult you meet, so why should kids be any different? They have personalities, too, all of which will rub at least somebody the wrong way.
So while your brother didn’t handle this gracefully (at all), it’s time you stopped pushing him to be Uncle Awesome. Even consider apologizing for cornering him into saying what he did. You can’t make anyone love anyone else, and it sounds like you’ve really laid on the pressure for him to do just that. You’ve even dismissed his “profuse” apology and gone right back to applying pressure.
Maybe apologizing and calling a cease-guilt will encourage him to come around more. If not, try inviting your brother again when your son’s a little older. In the meantime, seek extended-family warmth from others who are more receptive.
And if it helps, keep in mind that your heartbreak is not uncommon. For a lot of people, family only acts like Family in soup commercials.
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