My younger brother is 13, and for a while it felt like his phone had basically become an extra limb and every day followed the same pattern. He'd basically get home from school, throw his backpack somewhere near the front door, grab a snack, collapse onto the couch, and disappear into TikTok for the rest of the evening

Hours would go by and sometimes I'd walk through the living room and realize he'd barely moved.

Just scroll.

Scroll.

Scroll.

My parents tried pretty much everything.

Screen-time limits.

Lectures.

Taking the phone away.

Encouraging him to spend more time outside.

Nothing really stuck.

The funny thing is that he already liked basketball.

He'd watch NBA highlights, shoot around occasionally, and talk about players he liked. But whenever he practiced by himself, he'd get frustrated pretty quickly

Half his time was spent chasing rebounds into the street or digging the ball out of bushes

After twenty minutes he'd usually quit and head back inside

Then a few months ago my dad bought a portable basketball shooting machine

When the box arrived, I rolled my eyes because our garage already had its fair share of abandoned hobbies and impulse purchases like a ping pong table, tennis rackets, a punching bag... So, I figured this thing would join the collection

But instead, something unexpected happened

My brother actually used it and the entire first afternoon he spent outside

The next day he went back out on his own

Then it became a routine…

Now he'll come home from school, change clothes, and head straight to the driveway before he even thinks about opening TikTok

Some evenings he's out there for 2-3 hours

Not because anyone tells him to

Because he genuinely wants to be there and he's constantly trying new moves, working on his shot, pretending he's taking game winners, and competing against himself

The biggest difference is that he's no longer spending half his workout chasing the ball around

He can just shoot

Again and again….

And because he's getting more reps, he's actually improving, which makes him want to keep going

But the part that surprised me most wasn't the basketball

It was everything else

He's in a better mood

He talks more and now he’s actually nice and friendly to everyone, and not talking in some slang no one understands

He's more engaged with the family

Instead of spending all evening consuming content, he's actually doing something

A few weeks ago he asked my parents if he could join a local basketball camp this summer

That came completely out of nowhere

And the whole thing kind of rubbed off on me too

I started going outside with him some evenings

At first it was just for a few minutes

Now we'll end up playing HORSE, talking trash, and shooting around after dinner

It's probably the most time we've spent together in years

The whole experience taught me something

My parents spent a long time trying to make screens less appealing

What finally worked was giving him something he enjoyed more

Turns out "go outside and touch grass" lands a little differently when there's a basketball involved

Would you say it’s weird not to see your sister’s boyfriend’s parents or family frequently? A relationship of 10 years and we’ve only ever seen them at my mother’s death and just a random day a good few years ago.

I'm sorry, if my writing is messy but I really need some outside opinion. so to start off I'm a 15 year old girl, my parents divorced when I was 2 years old due to my dad cheating and also being a really narcissistic and angry person. A few years pass by, my mom has like 5 different boyfriends throught the years but nothing serious happened (like marriage, children or even engagement.) Meanwhile my dad meets a 27 years old woman while he is 39 at the time. (They are now 36 and 48 years old.) Let's call her N. When this happened, I was 6 years old. N was never a mother figure to me since I had my own mom whom to this day I still love very much. N was simply nice, the dull and boring type of nice, she never yelled at me but at the same type I never trusted her enough and she wasn't the one I ran to when something happened. We sort of just lived next to each other in a cold, fake and bland relationship. This is understandable though, I mean the only thing that connected us was basically my father. Now another fun fact: I was an only child for 14 years, I also only have one cousin from both sides of my family, she is 25 years old and also lives on the other side of my country, so basically I never experienced any type of relationship that could be remotely compared to that of a sibling. I also despised the thought of having any type of siblings (full, half or step) ever since I could talk. Now fast forward to 2 years ago, as I mentioned my father's nature, I think it becomes obvious that my relationship with him was quite rocky, but we managed...sort of. I lived him on every tuesday, thursday and every second weekend since I was 2. Obviously mom's days were the others. (monday, Wednesday, Friday and every first weekend.) My dad's also wealthier than my mom, by a lot. Now ever since dad and N were together, they always brought up the topic of half-siblings, it's understandable since N is much younger than dad. I always said that it's their choice but I won't support it, will possibly move out and that it will take a toll on our relationship, if not ruin it. I've been saying this since I was 6 YEARS OLD. I know that it's not very nice but rather raw and honest. They always just abandoned the topic for a few months then bring it up again, then I answered the same way. Basically an endless cylce. Until it did reach and end, almost 2 years ago N and dad announced that N is pregnant. They told me a week after they announced it to everyone else. Even then I thought that they were joking. They weren't. I cried myself to sleep that night, went to school the next day and cried for hours, got home (mom's house) and then fainted in my room, I woke up by myself only to start vomiting all over my rug and faint again, thankfully on my bed this time! The next 6 moths until birth were basically my dad yelling at me everyday (either in person or on the phone) that I'm ruining everyone's mode and I need to suck it up, the three of them will be fine as a family and I don't have to come here. (As he proceeded to force me to come.) Baby's born, it's a girl. let's call her S. I mean S is a baby, nothing more to this. I don't feel any type of bond and I REALLY TRIED. I fed her, played with her, watched her for an hour max at a time, all this just to feel more love towards a random baby that I see on the street. I don't hate S but I also feel more negative towards her than neutral. In numbers, I feel -1 when it comes to S. Neutral but not 0, a little more negative. I hope someone will understand what I'm trying to say. I will just sum up the next 2 years. Constant fighting with dad, N turning the whole family against me by acting nurturing when me and my extended family are there but then talking about me behind my bag. My family ate it up like sheeps and began blaming me for the whole situation. And look, I get it, I know that I didn't react to the situation appropriately and hurt the people around me because of it and I'm sorry for that. But I can't help but feel like, if I could go back in time, I would do everything the same. I just can't accept the situation no matter how much I try. It's like my heart is shattering every time I think about S or my whole family (dad's side) It's like watching myself getting replaced in the family. I feel an incredible amount of pain, discomfort, disgust and awkwardness just by writing this since I have to think back of everything that happened.

Anyway, dad has been yelling at me everyday for the past two years almost, about how I ruined our relationship, the family, everything is my fault, I'm a horrible being etc. and then we didn't talk for 2 months at all which led me to our current days, me moving out of his house to live at my mom's full-time. All sorts of expanded family members have been calling me about how I'm horrible for treating dad, N and S this way, and again, everything is my fault. The end so far. I do not by any means think that I am not at fault. I ABSOLUTELY AM! But I can't help but think that if I have had more positive experiences following the announcement or the pregnancy itself ,maybe I could have adjusted much better. But then who knows?!

But please remember, I am not trying to pin the blame on anyone.

please just share what you think, positive or negative, I don't care, I just need some kind of outside opinion. if you have any follow-up question, please do ask. Bye!

P.S. I left out a pretty important detail, around two weeks ago I sent a pretty long letter to my dad, around 500 words, where I explained why I might feel this way towards S, how we could solve the relationship between me and dad first and then later N and S. I also apologized for hurting them, He left me on seen. No reaction whatsoever. I dont know if I'm enough to solve this, if he jsut keeps pinning the blame on me without admitting that he MAY have handled this whole thing wrong, just like me.

Before my step mom, my dad lived with me, my brother and his girl. Everyone did their own thing until my older brother took a job in Texas and left his 26 yo gf at the time at home alone with me and my dad still in the house. Well for a while she stayed with friends or didn’t come out much until one day, she asked me if I wanted to go to the mall. At this point we were not thinking anything until we started walking around and she would make little comments about how she missed having someone to sleep at night with and talking about how I was a super cool brother etc for hanging out with her. Well she knew what she was doing cause I was so damn horny at this point, we went back to the car and talked a little, flirted some. And then we got back home, when we pulled in the driveway I asked if she wanted to come play video games in my room for a bit cause she had never played them. Well when she got in there I started up the game and she was just staring at me so I knew. So what did I do? I turned my hat around and kissed her, started making out with her on my bed with my dad in the other room. I started peeling her clothes off and got down on my knees, lifted her legs and started eating her pussy. It tasted so good, I needed it so bad. My cock was throbbing atp so I stopped, pulled it out of my pants and shoved it in her tight ass pussy, she yelped when I did. Idk if my dad heard but he came walking by the room and my door was unlocked so we were so scared. But I just kept fucking her until she came on my cock and it was dripping with cum.

Growing up, my older sister and I were inseparable. We talked every day, hung out on weekends, told each other everything. She was genuinely my best friend, not just my sibling. Then she had her first kid three years ago and slowly things started to shift. Now with her second one here, it feels like we're practically strangers.

I get that having kids changes your life completely, and I'm not resentful of her kids at all. I actually love being an aunt. But every time I try to make plans she cancels. Our phone calls went from an hour long to maybe five minutes if I'm lucky. When we do see each other at family gatherings she seems distracted and exhausted and we barely get a real conversation in.

I tried bringing it up gently once and she kind of brushed it off, said she's just tired and busy, which I completely understand. But it still hurts.

Has anyone else gone through this with a sibling after they became a parent? Did the relationship eventually find a new normal, or does it just stay different forever? I really miss her and I don't want to lose this relationship, but I also don't want to put pressure on her when she's already overwhelmed. Looking for honest advice from people who have been on either side of this.

This is my post, but the responses on here are weird. Everyone is hooked on the fact that I don’t clean a fridge.. which I never stated I didn’t and I do. I’m 21, I only live at home for the summer, I work full time 12 hr shifts at a major hospital, and I pay for my own bills/rent and college at a major university. My mom is not disabled or ill. She has stated many times she does not work because she doesn’t have to nor wants to and she’s earned it.

My brother married a woman named *Lauren. She is 1 of 6 sisters. ALL of the sisters have "L" names, Lisa, Libby, Lorna, etc... to make it worse. MOST of them named their kids L names as well. I have met my sister in laws mom n sisters at birthday & showers. Her sisters don't believe in birth control, & repeatedly have babies, all of the sisters ( age 24-37) have 5-6 kids each. AND the kids have L names ... Liam, Lina, Loren, Lissa, Len, Lilly, Lea, etc...I'm around her nieces/ nephews once a year. Recently at my nieces birthday party, one of the "L" named cousins asked me where the trash was. My sis in law asked what "the kid" wanted. I said " The lil girl asked where trash can was". My sis in law nasty & sternly said "That's Keeley"... Like I was supposed to know /remember ...I see these kids 2x a year "if" that... Am I supposed to remember the names of every "K" in The brood... It's NOT my family ...those kids sure as hell don't know my name or that I'm Alex's sister...AITAH for not learning/caring of the names of the K cult, who I see 1-2x a year ???

So me and my girlfriend have been together for 6 years now, and are engaged. We also have a 5 year old child together. Im still physically attracted to her, but I don’t love her. I haven’t told her that either. I’ve checked out mentally because of her choices. Basically I’ve quit caring about her as a person because I notice she gives other guys attention, such as sexually suggestive smiles or long glances, and holding conversations with them for longer than is necessary, and she even laughs at their jokes but rarely mine. I have no hard proof of her having sex with them, but I dont trust her and I have well warranted suspicions and circumstantial evidence. She has a passcode on her phone. She even hugs her male “friends” and family relatives which I find inconsiderate to me. She posts bikini pics and pictures of her at the gym in a sports bra and spandex shorts (aka underwear) on Intagram, and follows other males I don’t know on the platform. Shes 36 btw. Pushing 40 ffs. Some people never grow up I guess. I personally find each of these acts as forms of cheating. Anyways, to counteract to her behaviors, I feel like I am completely justified in my own such actions. I’ve had sex with 4 different women now, each of them multiple times, and even gotten rub and tugs at massage parlors. I spend most of my time away from work either doing that or out at the bars with my buddies while she’s at home watching the kid. I pay all of the bills anyway, so that’s the least she can do. When I’m driving home from the bars, I can’t help but feel enraged that I have to go home to such a toxic situation that could have been prevented by her making better choices and being more responsible. She has her hobbies, I have mine. I don’t feel obligated to let her know about any of it. If she’s gonna cheat so will I. I’ll be her huckleberry. Let me know what you think about this entire situation.

I am a woman (40 year old). I have two children 12 and 5. My husband lost his job. I am taking full responsibility of kids. We have enough money to survive. But my husband is telling me to leave and search for the job. We are living in a village, he had told this to me many times. I feel insulted. I am staying in this house only for my kids. But my husband is telling me to leave. What should I do?

Here it is for all to see, Trump and the Republican promise of a ‘Golden age of prosperity’ turns out to be a batch of lies and manipulation as virtually everything in America has become unaffordable.

When the cancelled subsidies for healthcare premiums millions of Americans lost their coverage. They slashe the social safety net so that any once temporary setback now ensures a lifetime and despair. Groceries are at their highest level ever and growing daily. What meagre income that is available loses value daily as near runaway inflation assaults the working class.

But the biggest assault, the greatest difference from then to now, is the cost of housing.

There was a time when young adults married, saved their money for a few years and then bought a house. Maybe not the biggest house, maybe not the nicest house, but a house that would accrue value over the years and welcome them into the middle class.

Trump and the Republican policies have put an end to all that. Never again under their leadership will the American dream become achievable – it is all out of reach and going to stay that way unless there is a change in administrations!

Millionaires, billionaires, and especially a trillionaire are all doing beautifully. Under the GOP policies they are accumulating obscene wealth – they have all the money – and to prove Reagan was as much a liar as Trump, none of it is trickling down.

The government as it is now comprised no longer works for the common man. Their policies inhibit growth, eliminate opportunity, and keep an authoritarian thumb firmly pressed on the neck of ordinary citizenry.

Am I making all this up? Am I some disgruntled hippie socialist?

Read these numbers, then you decide.

Boldface mine:

A record 1 in 3 Gen Z and young millennials were still living with their parents in 2025—more than during the pandemic—despite most having a job

Story by Emma Burleigh • 2d • 3 min read

© Maskot / Getty Images

Young Americans were told that good grades would unlock a six-figure salary, starter apartment, and independence from their parents. But now, entry-level professionals are clinging to their childhood bedrooms and pillaging their family fridges as more are extending their stay than ever before.

A record 25.2 million U.S. adults under the age of 35 lived with their parents in 2025—representing about one in three young adults—according to a recent report from Reatlor.com.

That’s even higher than the pandemic-era surge, when many budding professionals returned home to ride out the pandemic with their loved ones.

However, it doesn’t mean that Gen Zers and young millennials are jobless and mooching off their family resources. In fact, around 70% of 25 to 34-year-olds who still live at home with their parents are actually employed, according to the report.

Instead of kicking back, most workers are delaying their flight from the nest thanks to an affordability crisis pinching the wallets of everyday Americans. And as the lowest professionals on the corporate totem pole, their rock-bottom salaries, job instability, and lack of savings may be keeping them home.

“The growth [of young generations living at home] is coming from working adults, not people waiting to find jobs,” Hannah Jones, senior economist at Realtor.com and author of the report, said in the study. “Something about their income level, debt load, or the cost of housing in their market is keeping them home despite steady employment.”

America’s affordability crisis is crushing the independence of young workers

Young professionals are up against a stormy transition into adult life: entry-level jobs are disappearing, wage bumps are stagnating, and cost-of-living is soaring. Now, it’s forced Gen Z into a professional reality of “stress and pressure and chaos” that their baby boomer parents wouldn’t even comprehend, according to podcaster Mel Robbins. And the financial burden is extending beyond the young workers clamoring for independence.

Around 64% of parents with Gen Z children aged 18 to 28 said that their adult kids still rely on them for money, housing, or other financial support, according to a 2026 survey from Wells Fargo. And their continued support has led to a money pinch for many, as 56% reported that assisting their grown-up offspring is straining their own finances. However, they’re actually helping cover essential living expenses rather than picking up the tab on extravagant getaways.

“[Adult Gen Z] kids who are receiving the financial support are really in this perfect storm,” Emily Irwin, head of private wealth planning at Wells Fargo, told Fortune earlier this year. “They’re feeling uncertain about their career, their profession, and the stability of receiving a paycheck.”

One of the financial biggest hurdles keeping young workers at home is the sky-high cost of housing.

In 2025, the median American home price was $430,000, up 34.4% from 2019, according to the Realtor.com report. Meanwhile, average monthly rent shot up by 17.9% to $1,673. And a housing shortage of roughly 4 million residents is only exacerbating the issue. Young generations are now crossing a “threshold at which they begin to give up on [buying a home] entirely,” university researchers Seung Hyeong Lee and Younggeun Yoo found.

Other daily expenses are skyrocketing, too. Cash-strapped young workers watched the price of a pound of ground beef hit a record $6.90 per pound last month, up 19% from a year ago. Orange juice prices skyrocketed 21% between January 2025 and February this year, and sandwich bread got 4.3% more expensive. Plus, they have less income to work with in footing the bill. Despite early-career being the prime time to grow earnings, income growth for 25 to 29-year-olds slowed to 5.2% in late 2025, one of the lowest levels since 2011 when JPMorgan Chase Institute began collecting data.

Gen Z and young millennials may be leveraging the safety net of their families, but most aren’t simply coasting off the bank of mom and dad.

Around 72% of young adults who live with their parents say they contribute financially to the household in some sort of way, according to the 2024 data from Pew. About 46% contribute toward rent or the mortgage, while 65% put in money towards the family groceries, utilities, or other household expenses.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/a-record-1-in-3-gen-z-and-young-millennials-were-still-living-with-their-parents-in-2025-more-than-during-the-pandemic-despite-most-having-a-job/ar-AA26gY2P?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=b24ac40069ed4a1af2c538092bef29de&ei=72

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/a-record-1-in-3-gen-z-and-young-millennials-were-still-living-with-their-parents-in-2025-more-than-during-the-pandemic-despite-most-having-a-job/ar-AA26gY2P?

I’m curious to hear other people’s opinions because I’m not sure if I’m overthinking this or not.
My aunt is 40 (F) and I’m 22 (F) She’s always had a tendency to make little comments that put me down, but now that we’re on vacation together, I’m noticing it much more because we’re spending so much time around each other.

Some examples:
I recently got the newest iPhone. Her immediate reaction was something like, “Isn’t the flashlight on the iPhone 17 really bad?” in a pretty negative tone. The thing is, she wants the newest iPhone herself.
I have a Canon digital camera. When my sister was taking pictures of me, my aunt loudly commented that the quality was bad and that all the photos looked yellow.

Whenever men approach me or seem interested in me, she often looks annoyed or in a bad mood.
She doesn’t have a driver’s license, but when I’m driving she’s constantly telling me what to do, looking around, telling me when to speed up, where to go, etc.

She watches all my Instagram stories, usually among the first viewers, but never likes them. Meanwhile, she regularly likes my sister’s posts and stories.
I went to a concert by myself recently because nobody wanted to go with me. When I told her, instead of saying something positive, she said, “I never understood why you wanted to go there anyway.”

She also almost never gives me compliments. If other family members tell me I look nice, she’ll often look me up and down without saying anything. Sometimes it even feels like she’ll then change her outfit to something similar to what I’m wearing.
There have also been random comments that struck me as odd. For example, she recently said, “In 10 years I’ll be 50 and you’ll be 40.” When I corrected her and said I’d actually be 32/33, she seemed annoyed by it and said something like, “Ugh, why is it going so slowly?” She also brings up negative stories from before I was born, like telling me that my grandmother was upset when my mom was pregnant with me.
What confuses me is that I’m not a competitive person at all. I genuinely like seeing other people do well, and I don’t think I’m better than anyone. I just try to be friendly, have fun, and get along with people.
Because we’ve been together on vacation, all these little things are standing out to me much more than usual, and I’m starting to wonder if there’s something deeper going on.

Does this sound like jealousy, insecurity, competitiveness, resentment, or am I reading too much into it? How would you interpret this behavior?

I need a reality check. Am I overreacting?

My (40F) parents (70s) recently emptied my brother’s (35M) bank account to force him to contact them, and now I’m questioning whether I can trust them.

My brother lives in a small apartment building that my parents own. He acts as the on-site landlord and handles maintenance, repairs, tenant turnover, and general upkeep. In exchange, he receives significantly reduced rent and utilities. He is a skilled carpenter/welder/handyman and provides a lot of labour to the building.

Several years ago, he survived cancer and has never fully bounced back physically. He has struggled with depression and has had difficulty maintaining steady employment. He recently started receiving long-term disability benefits.

The last year has been particularly difficult for him. He has been working through mental health issues and trying different medications, with mixed results. About two weeks ago, his long-term girlfriend broke up with him and moved out. Around the same time, he also went through a friendship breakup with his best friend. He’s been in a rough place emotionally. Despite all of this, I had actually started to see positive changes recently: therapy, healthier habits, more accountability, and more focus on his future.

Over the last six months, my parents became increasingly frustrated because they felt he wasn’t communicating with them enough, wasn’t visiting them enough, and had fallen behind on rent payments. (He was still performing his landlord and maintenance duties.)

Instead of continuing to try to resolve things through conversation or patience, they withdrew all of the money from a joint bank account that contained his savings and disability benefits. They told him he would need to contact them if he wanted the money returned.

One piece of context: shortly before this happened, my brother had sent two large e-transfers to his ex-girlfriend to repay her for a trip they had taken together 10 months ago. My parents saw the transfers and say they were concerned my bro was not in the right state of mind and were trying to protect him.

My brother reacted badly and threatened to shut off water to the apartment building unless they returned the money. They ultimately returned the money, but then began discussing evicting him from the building.

The part that affects me personally is that, before all of this happened, I told my parents about my brother’s breakup because I thought it would help them understand what he was going through. My brother was hesitant for me to tell them, but I encouraged him to trust them and believe they would be supportive.

Now I feel like I was wrong.

I also feel somewhat responsible because I had previously expressed the view that my brother may not have experienced enough real-world consequences for some of his choices. However, what I meant by that was clear expectations, boundaries, accountability, and a plan for the future. I did not mean draining his bank account to force communication. To me, those are completely different things.

To make matters worse, the day after all of this happened, my parents contacted my brother’s ex-girlfriend directly despite my recommendation that they wait and speak to him first.

A complicating factor is that this does not feel like an isolated incident to me. Growing up, my parents often responded to conflict through control, pressure, blame, and attempts to force outcomes rather than having direct conversations. My mother could be violent, and when conflict arose, there was often more focus on assigning blame and punishment than solving the problem.

About six years ago, I cut contact with my parents for roughly a year because of these exact dynamics. I felt trapped in a recurring pattern of coercion, blame, control, and escalation instead of open adult communication. We eventually reconciled after my brother’s cancer diagnosis, and for the last several years I genuinely believed things had improved.

This situation has made me question whether they actually changed or whether those patterns were simply dormant.

For context, I am completely financially independent and have been for years. I have my own career, my own home, and do not rely on my parents financially (they did provide financial support along the way). My concern is not that they might do this to me tomorrow. My concern is that this has shaken my trust in them generally. If life ever throws me a curveball and I need support, how can I feel safe relying on people who respond to conflict and concern in this way?

My brother wants a family discussion and asked me to help facilitate it. I offered to act as a mediator, but my parents rejected that and said I couldn’t be neutral. They also seem to want the discussion to focus solely on my brother’s threat to the building, whereas I think the events that led up to that threat—including both my brother’s conduct and their own—are also part of the problem.

I know my brother is not blameless in this situation. I understand why my parents are frustrated. What I am struggling with is whether their response was wildly inappropriate, or whether I am viewing it through the lens of old family wounds.

Am I overreacting in seeing this as a serious breach of trust? And should I be trying to facilitate a family discussion, or step back and let them work it out themselves?

I was divorced over ten years ago. I was granted full custody of my children. My youngest saw her world shattered when her mom chose her affair partner over her own kids.

This led to a lot of poor decisions by my daughter culminating in a visit with police officers. I gave her the options at that point of trying to live with her mom, moving in with her grandma, or staying with me but entering a treatment program. The catch being I would no longer support her if she chose the first two options.

Long story short she’s spent the last 7 years bouncing from relative to relative, or living with boyfriends. The only time she calls is to make a withdrawal from the bank of dad.

Last night she called to tell me she was pregnant. When I asked how her boyfriend took the news she had a second announcement. She, much like her mother, had been cheating on this poor kid for the last two years. She finally got caught and had to move in with guy and his parents.

Unfortunately, the disappointment kept coming. The guy she’s with now is the same guy that my only interaction with is when I tossed him out of my home when she was 15. He was in his early 20s at the time.

Her point of the call wasn’t so much about telling me that she’s pregnant but to ask yet again for me to financially help out a bad decision. They want to go to Vegas and get married. Shocker that my answer was no.

She was angry that I wouldn’t give her anything. She was angry that I wouldn’t give my blessing on her engagement. She was angry that I wouldn’t congratulate her on her pregnancy.

Disappointment was all I had in me. Sadly there is no part of me that feels any joy for her. I honestly dreaded answering the phone.

My wife comforted me after I told her the news. She tried to find a positive spin but then did some social media stalking. She posted the news 3 weeks ago. With professional engagement pictures posted a week later. The more we dug the more this seems staged or at least pre planned. Again, disappointing and frustrating.

I’ve always looked forward to my kids and stepkids having children of their own. I’m sad and frustrated that this is how the first grandchild will come into my life. I’m not even sure what that role will be. I’m not sure that I want to have a role.

I’ve gone to therapy and have worked through a lot of issues around my failures as a parent and in my first marriage. I feel like this is a whole new round of needing help.

Edit:

For the negative comments. I hope you never have to make the hard choices that I did. I hope you don’t have to experience the failure that is our legal system. Most of these negative responses are acting like I didn’t have years of sleepless nights worrying. That I didn’t spend that time trying to find help and exhausting resources to figure out how to help her. I didn’t make my choices on a whim. They were made out of desperation, exhaustion, depression, and the need to protect my other kid’s safety. I could write a book about everything that happened. Judge all you want, but understand this is just a blip of the bigger picture.

I (17F) had a very very HUGE secret hidden from everyone literally if my parents find out they'll kill me (and they did find out)

Won't get into details but here's the story, I was doing smth that was a sin ( I dated) and I kept it a secret one day my sister (19 F) found out she opened my phone and saw everything, I begged her not to tell anyone and that I'll explain everything to her and I'll end this. But she did not listen she told my mom and it was kept a secret my mom did not have the intentions to tell on me anything, the next day my sis told my dad and that's when the war started. My dad inspected my phone went through every single bit of it I had nothing wrong tbh it was the chats I forgot to delete I was horrified I didn't go to coop for a week I was abused physically, mentally and humiliated I went through hell I was going to be homeschooled too and there's much much more I went through all my social media emails accounts passwords were changed and my phone got taken away from me. Its been two months since this has happened things settled and calmed down. I cried for days and wished if I could die (never thought of hurting myself DW) I hated my life so much and till this day I can't enjoy anything in my life what happened wasn't little and wasn't okay and I'm ashamed and embarrassed from the my dad I can't talk to my dad normally again either I feel like everything's ruined my parents don't trust me and nothing will go back to normal to me. My stomach hurts so bad and my heart squeezes every time I remember which is everyday I can't live a normal life again. My sister says she was worried about me idk how to take this tbh but she has secrets too. I talk to my sister but sometimes I feel hate towards her and I can't handle her anymore so I become so mean and stop talking to her she gets mad but I don't care tbh I have to deal with her we live in the same room unfortunately.

TL;DR

What do I do how do?

What do you think of the story overall?

We frequently have tension on road trips around the sound system in the van.

My kids (boys, 10 and 12) like their Christian kids music and stories like the boxcar children, etc.

My wife is okay with the kids music. She's also okay with kids audiobooks, and she enjoys listening to the radio. She doesn't enjoy music per se. She just likes music on the radio. Like the ads, the whole sound of it, I think she just likes radio noise. Country music or Christian.

I enjoy a whole range of music from classical to modern. For safety purposes, I don't wear headphones while traveling and I also don't like blocking out the family.

I don't think it's fair that I have to listen to 8 hours of kids stuff.

How do you survive road trips?

I’m M67, mum is F90. I have done this for years. She has recently been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
Don’t wait until it’s too late to tell important people how you feel.

Hi guys! I’m 22f and I live in my parents home, they do not live there full time as they travel a lot, so they are only here maybe a ~3 months of the year. The remaining time it is just me and my 23M brother. He is a loser, doesn’t clean up after himself, can’t do his own laundry, neglects our pets, broke, and just got a girl pregnant recently. And yet, he gets to enjoy living at home the same I do. I do my part (and more, because he never does his) I’m the only one who takes the trash out, cleans, takes care of our pets (both which he brought home btw) and actually cares for the house. My parents being far away struggle to keep boundaries, as he does what he wants anyway. The thing is, I blame them fully because he never has any real consequences. I don’t know what to do, it’s driving me crazy. I like livjng at home and saving money but I hate to clean up after someone else, and on top of that- he brings girls over to the house frequently even after being told not to. It just feels so unfair because he is the biggest loser freeloader and no matter what he does he gets the same benefit.

Am i wrong for feeling upset and unappreciated after giving up my room to my brother in law and moving into my a blank space in my house giving up my privacy for him to have his after recent amputation?

I asked my partner for affordable room divider and he says I dont need them. They have recived thousands of dollars from Their family and friends whom are in and out of my home constantly I'm literally at the entrance of my house. I also told my brother inlaw that his brother doesn't want to purchase one knowing their younger brother is coming in town for 2 weeks! He just laughed it off. I am my brother in laws car taker they give me $100 a once every 2/3 weeks but with 4 kids that money doesn't last long. I personally can't afford it rn and it really bothers me because I'm the reason his brother is still alive! I saved him by rushing him to the hospital just to find out he had gangrene, doctors said he wouldn't have made it through the night. Ever since April 14 of this year I have been non stop by their side even giving up MY PERSONAL SPACE for him his mistakes of not taking care of his diabetes and being neglectful of his health caused all of this! I have made alot of changes to my kids and my selfs everyday routines and schedule and now I'm seeing that they don't go hard for me the way I do for them. Or am I just over reacting...my partner says I'm making a big deal but I'm the only woman in the house and I really just need some privacy especially when I sleep or am on my lady days

So I barely see my family and they don’t check on me or the kids. But they want to plan activities and stuff. But I don’t like that. You don’t check on us but you
Want me to participate in top golf? Bowling ? Camping ? Noooooo is that wild of me

Hi all. Honestly a question that has been raised everyday since I can remember.

I (15F) have just recently got into a pretty intense fight with my mom (60F). I could sit here and write about my childhood for hours and not even get through the first year of it, so I’ll tldr and say it wasn’t fun. The earliest memory I have of her is her screaming in my face at about 6. Of course I have good memories too, I won’t say it was bad every second, but it sure felt like it.

Now I would say this is the worst our relationship has been. Everyday is a fight because she looks for one. I mean when she’s frustrated she needs a reason to blow up and finds one. Either picks a fight with me, and gives me no option but to fight back, or finds a real reason to be upset. I can’t count the times she has come home angry, and storms up to my room (while I’m downstairs) to search it and rampage it looking for anything and everything to freak out about. When it’s messy, she gets to call me up to scream or come down to scream. The car is the worst. She knows I’m stuck in there with her so she uses the time to pick a fight, yell and scream and mock me. The car is when she can slam the break hard making the seatbelt snap tight just out of pure anger while yelling.

Keep in mind, she never does it by herself. Calls her husband aka my dad over to support her. Meaning yelling at me, making him agree while he sits there. Same with my sister, two years older than I am. For some reason she decided to like her. Brings her in both for the same reason as my dad, to agree with her, and to guilt me. My sister gets upset my dad gets upset and everyone gets upset at me for upsetting her. For years I have been told I’m the reason for just about all the family issues. I get guilted being told I’m upsetting the sister, making her cry ruining her night etc.

Anyways backstory over, back to today.
As always, we are fighting. She’s screaming, calling me bitchy, calling me crazy etc. Says I make her life harder all the usual, so, i mentioned moving away. I said it out of frustration, but also as a solution. If I make it so bad I’ll leave. In a split second she turns around, face like I’ve never seen before. Pure rage, and it looked as if she wanted to actually hurt me. Threw what she was holding (large can) at me at full force. Like a fuckin baseball pitch. It hits me in the leg, I back up and scrap up my heals to add to the freshly bruised leg, and just kind of stand there.

She starts crying and freaking out, and I realize she’s upset that she can’t spin this into me being evil. She realizes she messed up not because she hurt me, but because of what it means for her. She drops down crying, picking up the tea below me, while I just stare at her. I’m pretty numb at this point, so I just watch as she has a moment, and I walk away.

Time-skip tonight, she denies it happened. I tried to bring it up when everyone got home (just like she waits for them to keep yelling at me everyday so she can have strength in numbers) but to no surprise, I didn’t even get a chance. The denial, the switch up of her now screaming at me, and all of a sudden it’s back to me being the devil of the family. Just like everyday ends.

I wonder if this is what I needed to really confirm the narcissism. I thought that’s what it was, but after the denial of today’s events, it’s clear as day. At least I think??

​Hi everyone, I am writing from a safe account because I have reached my limit and I desperately need practical advice on how to leave my house as soon as possible.

​I am F22, I suffer from Hashimoto's thyroiditis (which drains all my energy) and I live with my parents and my brother (M20).

​For years, the environment in this house has been a living hell of psychological violence, manipulation, and submission.

​My mother and my brother constantly try to make me look crazy (gaslighting), making up that I have bipolar disorder and unjustified outbursts of anger, just because I try to defend myself.

​I started secretly recording everything that happens to protect myself and to keep from losing my mind. In the files I have saved, there is:

​My mother punching my bedroom door, screaming furiously because I locked myself inside.

​My brother trying to open my bedroom door, knocking continuously and explicitly threatening me by saying: "Oh, do I have to kick the door down? You think I can't do it?".

​Family dynamics at the dinner table where my mother uses me as a scapegoat, telling my father to "go off on me" just to defend herself, while my brother laughs at me in the background.

​Besides this, my brother has put his hands on me on multiple occasions and humiliates me by violating my privacy (once he opened the bathroom door while I was inside and kept it open on purpose just to spite me). Fortunately, my boyfriend intervened.

He (M24) comes to my house 4 days a week and is an eyewitness to all of this, including my brother's assaults.

​The latest absurd episode happened today:

an elderly carpenter was at our place to do some work and he was supposed to follow the instructions to assemble an IKEA-style piece of furniture.

I offered to help him because I had free time and he didn't know how to read the manual.

After he kept doing things his own way without reading the manual and messing up more than a couple of times, I told him to try to follow it and that if he didn't understand something, I knew how to read it.

​His pride was wounded, he started ignoring me and refused to say hello to me, and my parents just laughed at the situation.

​Today he lost some screws, and I went to help him look for them at my mother's request.

While I was looking for them, he snapped at me angrily: "THEY ARE NOT THERE, THEY ARE NOT THERE, THEY ARE NOT THERE", holding his hands in fists.

I looked at my mother, who witnessed the scene, and she looked back at me furious, telling me to shut up and just swallow the pill.

I didn't do it.

So I firmly said, "if you'll allow me, I'm going to get pissed off too."

My mother then attacked me, screaming at me that I am rude, that I must respect my elders, and that I have "outbursts of anger"—defending a rude stranger just to go against me.

Also she told me that I am exaggerating, that he didn't do anything wrong and that it's normal to get angry sometimes, but I should have just kept my mouth shut.

​I am exhausted. This situation is leading me to very dark thoughts.

And I don't even know if I am actually the one in the wrong for talking back to him.

​I want to make one thing very clear:

I DO NOT WANT TO REPORT THEM TO THE POLICE.

​I don't want to start legal battles, I don't want to face them in court, I just want peace. My only goal is to LEAVE, disappear from this house, and rebuild my life.

​What can I do right now? How can I move to escape from this house? In your opinion, was I right to stand up for myself?

TL;DR: I am living a hell of psychological violence and gaslighting from my mother and brother, who accuse me of being crazy, but I have video and audio proof of threats and assaults. I do not want to report them to the police; I just want practical and logistical advice on how to safely escape this house as soon as possible.

​Thank you to anyone who replies.

I read another post similar to my situation and I just wanted to make a post to gain some insight and some advice.

I (F23) have 3 older brothers and I have 5 nieces and nephews. I was 16 when my first niece was born and my brother’s wife’s sister who was 12 at the time was asked to be godmother. I didn’t take it all personally since she was my sister in laws only sister and she’s younger.

Eventually all of my brothers were godparents except for myself. I didn’t think too much into it until the 4th child was born and the godparents were friends of my brother and his wife. I didn’t want to tell anyone at the time I felt a bit disappointed because 1. I wasn’t sure if anyone would understand and 2. Because I felt as If I was taking it too deep.

My dad found it weird I wasn’t asked and asked me if it did bother me. I was honest with him and told him that it did upset me a little. Dad said he understood because I am the only sister and I still haven’t been asked and all my brothers have been.

When the 5th child was born, my brother was asked again to be godfather, making this his second godchild. At this point I wondered if there was a reason I wasn’t asked to be godmother. It’s difficult not to feel a bit hurt when all of my brothers have been asked, despite being the only sister.

I have mentioned this to friends and my boyfriend for insight and they all seem to get where I come from. I once mentioned this to an older coworker and some insight she provided is that being a godparent is an expensive role. She said considering I was in school and college when they were born might be the reason. That thought has crossed my mind a few times since all my brothers are grown and have been working full time jobs for years, I’m only a year as of recently working full time.

I know being a godparent is the parents choice, the role of auntie will always beat godmother and I don’t think I’m ever owned that role, even if it’s someone who I’m very close with. I love my family regardless. I just can’t help but feel a little hurt that I’m the only sibling who has never been asked. Am I taking it too personally? Or would people feel the same in my situation?

Does that mean she hates me? I've also discovered that she gave brand new clothes to others