Even though family is supposed to love, support, and comfort us, they can sometimes be the biggest source of stress and anger in our lives. Below are 10 stories from our readers about how they dealt with difficult family members.

I remember that my mother-in-law would call me at 2 a.m. to “talk” about what she thought were panic attacks. I tried to be understanding at first, but the calls wouldn’t stop, and I was tired. My phone rang one night just as I was about to fall asleep. She was whispering in fear that “strange noises” were coming from behind her and that someone was watching her. My heart was beating fast, and I was about to call the police when she cut the call off. After a year, I found out that she had been calling almost all of my family members at odd times to warn them of her panic and distress. It turned out she had no panic attacks at all; she was just trying to get attention and cause trouble. When I finally confronted her about this, she never admitted that she was lying, but the calls stopped. It felt good to get my peace back and set clear limits.

“I had already chosen a name for my unborn child and told my whole family about it.” Following a few months, my cousin gave her child the exact same name and said it was just a coincidence. She says it’s not a big deal, but I feel like my choice is tainted now.

“When my younger brother lost his job, he moved in with me, which was fine for a while.” He played video games all day, though, and never helped out around the house. I asked him to help out or at least carry the groceries, but he said he was “going through a tough time” and shouldn’t have to. I finally had to give him a move-out date to get him back on track after several heated arguments.

I gave my brother-in-law $5,000 a year ago with the promise that he would pay it back in six months. He keeps making excuses for why he hasn’t paid anything. When I asked for the money back, he said it was my mistake to lend it in the first place. His wife stands up for him and says, “I should have known better.”

“My dad was crazy about finding deals. He’d buy a lot of things just because they were on sale.” He said it was a “steal” when he came home with 100 cans of tuna one day. The whole family didn’t like tuna. He kept sneaking tuna into our meals for a month, until we finally begged him to stop. He laughed and said he wouldn’t buy in bulk again until he found a good deal on 50 jars of pickles.

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