Being rejected or left out by her children is one of the hardest feelings for a mother to go through. Nadine recently dealt with a similar issue. She was very upset that her in-laws were treating her children differently than their other grandchildren and not inviting them to a big family event. Nadine looked for help online because she needed direction.

This is Nadine’s letter:

“To celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, my in-laws took the whole family to a fancy restaurant for dinner.” They said that only adults could go, so Fred, 9, and Sara, 7, stayed home with us.

I was shocked to see all of their other grandchildren at the table when I got there. The worst part was that my husband knew what was going on. He said to me, “Well, you have to admit that even though it took my parents a long time to warm up to Fred and Sara, they did actually make a lot of progress.” I was shocked when he said, “But this is a family event, and they insisted that only blood relatives be there.”

Fred and Sara are actually my children from a previous marriage. My husband has always treated them like they were his because he loves me. They always wanted their son to raise his own kids instead of marrying me, a woman with “baggage,” as they put it.

What they did was awful, and my kids are still treated like strangers. You shouldn’t treat these kids this way because they are nice and wonderful. But I have been madder at my husband than at my in-laws because he didn’t stand up for our family when he should have. I’m lost on what to do next.

Yours,
Nadine”