Have two brothers and two sisters and I have two kids. My two brothers are great uncles and my one sister isn't too bad. However, my other sister acts like they don't even exist...never sends them anything for their birthday or Christmas. I think it sux..she makes really good money. My kids are young 14 & 12, and it would mean a lot to them if she sent them something or called...anything. But she never does...it really pisses me off. I don't know how to handle this...I want ask her sometimes why she never acknowledges them,but it it seems akward as hell. And if she doesn't want to,well..wtf can I do..but family is family. Anyone else have this problem? Is this normal? How do you handle it?
If she gives presents to your other siblings kids and not yours then I would definately say something to her and ask her why. If not, theres not much you can say. Any chance she can feel slighted that she wasnt asked to be a godmnother or something like that?
Im lucky, my brothers and their wives are great to my kids.
Im lucky, my brothers and their wives are great to my kids.
Im going to be honest with you. Kids don't really care if their uncles call to wish them happy birthday. They are only interested in receiving presents from them. You can think otherwise and believe your kids are different, but 99.99% of kids could care less if they talked to their uncles/aunts, etc
As was previously mentioned, I would check with your other sibs and see if your sister is giving their kids gifts. If she is then I'd say you might want to speak to your sister directly about what the problem is. If she's not then I'd let it go - she must not want to get involved with kids at all.
Just be gald you don't have my sister to deal with. She emailed our two kids a while back telling them to confide in her. According to her, aunts are for revealing secrets that they don't want me and my wife to know aout. I don't expect our kids to confide everything to us - far from it, but my wife and I didn't appreciate her back channel efforts to win them over. Unfortunately for her, our kids showed us the email and we had a good laugh. It's one thing if they decide she is someone they want to confide in, but to come begging for dirt . . .My sister got married late in life and has 2 stepdaughters. She gives our kids gifts, but won't allow my wife and I to reciprocate. According to her, her stepdaughters are spoled and don't need any gifts. Yeah right! Feel the love. I could write pages about the shit my sister trys to pull - mostly when she's had a lot of wine. So sometimes it's a good thing for siblings not be too involved.
Just be gald you don't have my sister to deal with. She emailed our two kids a while back telling them to confide in her. According to her, aunts are for revealing secrets that they don't want me and my wife to know aout. I don't expect our kids to confide everything to us - far from it, but my wife and I didn't appreciate her back channel efforts to win them over. Unfortunately for her, our kids showed us the email and we had a good laugh. It's one thing if they decide she is someone they want to confide in, but to come begging for dirt . . .My sister got married late in life and has 2 stepdaughters. She gives our kids gifts, but won't allow my wife and I to reciprocate. According to her, her stepdaughters are spoled and don't need any gifts. Yeah right! Feel the love. I could write pages about the shit my sister trys to pull - mostly when she's had a lot of wine. So sometimes it's a good thing for siblings not be too involved.
Thanks for your input everyone...there are some good posts here from peopl I really respect. I really appreciate it.
I guess I just have to accept the fact that she is just not into kids. It just bugs me that my immediate family is small, only my one brother has kids (he adopted a boy and a girl) and if my sister and my kids passed each other on the street they probably won't recognize each other. It hurts, but things could be worse, I guess. Maybe it is better if some people don't get involved. Hell, I had an uncle (my Mom's brother) who sometimes beat the crap out of me when I was a kid. I guess this situation is not too bad. Thank you everyone!
I guess I just have to accept the fact that she is just not into kids. It just bugs me that my immediate family is small, only my one brother has kids (he adopted a boy and a girl) and if my sister and my kids passed each other on the street they probably won't recognize each other. It hurts, but things could be worse, I guess. Maybe it is better if some people don't get involved. Hell, I had an uncle (my Mom's brother) who sometimes beat the crap out of me when I was a kid. I guess this situation is not too bad. Thank you everyone!
I have a relative that is like this. Doesn't remember birthdays, sends them late gifts (if gifts at all). It doesn't bother me because I know this is just all personality driven but it really really agitates my wife big time. She thinks a person should put thought and effort into the process and if they don't then they just don't care. I try to explain to her that it's not that they don't care but it's just not in the genetic makeup to pay attention to these kinds of details. When I actually bring it up he's really apologetic and sends something late (which is better than nothing of course). He just can't remember and after all these years I just accept it.
Thanks man. Not to get all crazy in here, but my mom was mentally ill. She has since passed away also. Hell, I thought this was normal. All my relatives are 100% Italian, some were born in Italy...I thought that is what they do, they were strict as hell..this sounds like Eminem type shit..it's all good though bro, I survived...
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