I'm a single parent that moved in with my family last year because I became very ill. It has been a struggle living under one roof with my parents and my two year old son. I am thankful for their generosity, but we have very different views on parenting and lifestyle.
My son is a picky eater, and I try to keep him on as good a diet I can- but his main food is still grilled cheese or burritos. My parents have tons of junk food in their house- Cheetos, 85 brands of potato chips, Doritos, Goldfish. They constantly slip him these, and then play "Oh no, Mommy's coming," when they see me enter the room.
At first it was kind of cute, and I didn't freak about it, but it happened again tonight, when I was trying to get him to sit at the table and eat, and my dad was out there slipping him Cheetos. I think the problem is happening because we are living here. If we only came to visit occasionally, it would be no big deal, but it is so frustrating to feel like I'm being undermined by my parents.
I feel like nobody respects how I choose to eat, or even how I choose to live. My mom and my sister sit outside and talk for hours, but when I try to have a conversation with my mom, she basically blows me off, or gets huffy about something. When my sister comes over, the usual conversation is all about her work, or her kids, or some kind of stupid current event. I just don't feel like I fit in because I never have any kind of conversation about things that interest me- like organic cooking, or gardening, or homeschooling, or deeper spiritual books and movies.
Sometimes I feel like it wouldn't matter if we just moved back to the west coast, once my illness is under control. But then I feel guilty that my son wouldn't be close to his cousins. Does anyone else ever feel alone and confused?
My son is a picky eater, and I try to keep him on as good a diet I can- but his main food is still grilled cheese or burritos. My parents have tons of junk food in their house- Cheetos, 85 brands of potato chips, Doritos, Goldfish. They constantly slip him these, and then play "Oh no, Mommy's coming," when they see me enter the room.
At first it was kind of cute, and I didn't freak about it, but it happened again tonight, when I was trying to get him to sit at the table and eat, and my dad was out there slipping him Cheetos. I think the problem is happening because we are living here. If we only came to visit occasionally, it would be no big deal, but it is so frustrating to feel like I'm being undermined by my parents.
I feel like nobody respects how I choose to eat, or even how I choose to live. My mom and my sister sit outside and talk for hours, but when I try to have a conversation with my mom, she basically blows me off, or gets huffy about something. When my sister comes over, the usual conversation is all about her work, or her kids, or some kind of stupid current event. I just don't feel like I fit in because I never have any kind of conversation about things that interest me- like organic cooking, or gardening, or homeschooling, or deeper spiritual books and movies.
Sometimes I feel like it wouldn't matter if we just moved back to the west coast, once my illness is under control. But then I feel guilty that my son wouldn't be close to his cousins. Does anyone else ever feel alone and confused?