Coping through visits with radically different in-laws
Carolyn Hax is away. The following first appearedJune 13, 2012.
Dear Carolyn: Every time we visit my in-laws, I end up snappish and short-tempered, which obviously isn’t the side of me I want them to see. When I brought this up with my husband, he said he understood and I didn’t have to go on the next planned trip.
While I appreciate his letting me off the hook, I don’t think avoidance is a permanent solution. What I’d really like are some coping techniques or attitude adjustments to decrease my stress around them.
For what it’s worth, they’re not bad people. We just have radically different political views, biorhythms, interests, parenting philosophies, etc. They drive my husband crazy, too, but since it’s the environment he grew up in, he adjusts fairly easily — which is probably part of what irritates me.
