"My foot will not be in your parents' house!"
"This is my son, understand? Mine! I raise him however I want! You'll still be giving me advice!" shouted son-in-law David in the room. Natalia and her daughter Alexandra were in the kitchen, preparing a festive table, while their husbands and three-year-old Lena sat in the room. The women didn’t immediately understand what was happening. Everything was calm and quiet, the child was cheerfully singing a song, and suddenly they heard a scream. They exchanged glances and rushed into the room. There was the little boy by the sofa, all in tears, and David was shouting at his father-in-law with a twisted face."Quiet, quiet, guys..." Natalia rushed into the thick of the battle right away. "You’re adults, how can you act this way? Come on, you’re acting like schoolboys..."But it was already too late.
The atmosphere instantly became as tense as on a hot frying pan. Alexandra dashed to her son and picked him up. It turned out he had fallen off the sofa. He was fooling around with his grandfather, jumping and turning over. David had already told his son to calm down several times, but that didn't help at all. And instead of that..."To comfort the child after the fall, David lost his temper: he got angry, swore, picked up his son, roughly set him on his feet, and slapped him on the bottom. The grandfather was horrified; he stepped in to protect his grandson: "What are you doing, hitting him here? Stop it immediately. In my house, children are not beaten. Do you understand?" "Oh, in your house? Well, go you-know-where along with your home!
My foot will not be here anymore. That's it! We're leaving. Braun, dress the child! Let's go, I said!" The daughter tried to say something in response, but he wouldn’t listen. They got dressed and left amidst the grandson's cries. "Ugh! They congratulated the mother on her holiday, nothing to say!" said Natalia's husband to their backs. Six months passed. This all happened in January, on Natalia's birthday. Now it is summer, July, but David still hasn’t replaced anger with grace. He harbors resentment against his wife’s parents. Now he doesn’t want to visit them or communicate with his father-in-law and mother-in-law. He thinks he was sent away, and that he is not welcome there. Why should he think about what to say next? To his child.
After all, he is the father. He is also responsible for the upbringing. And he was scolded like a boy, even in front of his son. "Your parents have made me some kind of monster!" David said to his wife. "They say that I beat my son left and right. "They didn't mean that," Alexandra tried to explain. "Dad just defended his grandson in his way. Yes, maybe it was at the wrong time, or perhaps it was harsh. But it's for the child, not to humiliate you. "It's not about humiliating me — I'm not a boy. But he is not my father. And I don't need to be raised, nor does my child! Since then, Alexandra has been walking on a tightrope. On one side is her husband, who feels humiliated and offended. On the other side are her parents, whom she sees in fragments, and who are equally hurt. Natalia now sees her daughter and grandson in cafes and parks.
Several times during this time, they sat with Louise when he was sick, and when they picked him up from kindergarten. The daughter called, asking for help. They helped, of course, in their territory. But recently, Natalia cried – "Like, what do we deserve this? We always come to the rescue, and now your husband doesn't even let us in." — What do you deserve such an attitude? She asked. "Did you remark your son-in-law?" This was done quite rightly. We haven't touched you since you were a child. And we don't want to offend our grandson... Alexandra only averted her eyes in silence. "On the one hand, she can probably be understood," sighs Natalia. "She doesn't want to argue with her husband.
David is a peculiar guy, stubborn, with arrogance, reacts to many things painfully, looks for a catch in everything... I immediately told my daughter that it would be difficult with him. His mother and stepfather raised him. His childhood was not easy; he received, apparently, a belt. But the same cannot be done with children, especially with small ones. Natalia is offended: her daughter communicates with her parents almost stealthily, she is afraid to invite them to the house - it is not known how the hubby will react. And at the same time, now and then, he asks for help. Take him away, sit and pick up his grandson. And you can't refuse, so in general.
