Young lady. I'll not offer advice. Advice is like A-holes.
I have 2 grand kids, both almost grown. The only time they come around is to scratch their itch. I have a rule around my house. If you have something to say, in a reasonable manner, I'll listen. Other that that, get your donkey down the road. But then I'm 70 years old and don't put up with a lot of crap. BTW 1 son tried to stick me with $12k, other never ask for anything. Merry whatever.

It disturbed you to the point you cooled off on the step-grandchildren?

I didn't mean to sound like I was siding with either one of you, btw.

To look at this a little differently, if he bought a car you didn't like, and crowed, and crowed about what an awesome car he has, would you be feeling this way toward the step-grandchildren?

I was only curious why the step-grandchild/step-grandmother relationship has to suffer cuz the two of you don't care for each other's opinion.

Having said this, I have no children, no step-children, no grandchildren, and no step-grandchildren.

Which may explain why I don't get it.:)

And, apparently, I never will.

:lol2:

It made me want to distance myself from him, and them, yes.


If he bought a car which he didn't need, instead of buying groceries, (which was the thing about the ammo; he was wanting to spend money on that instead of bills & groceries), yes, I'd not want to be close to him. It wasn't the item purchased, it was the idea that he would buy something un-needed rather than feeding his kids that took me aback. And that he let the nut-case narrative get to him so much that he believes their nonsense about buying large amounts of ammo.

It's an 'avoidance' reaction. I don't yell at or nag people, I leave, that's my thing. In this case, I feel a lot of negativity around my stepson and I just don't want to be close to him.

Billions and billions of words have been written about parent-child relationships yet it's still difficult to relate how it feels. It's very strange, here is a person who is a part of you yet a separate person. Kids can hurt you or make you angrier than anyone else, because of the closeness, I reckon.

Clear as mud, right?

Anyway, I have been thinking about the original issue and I've decided that I am just going to let it ride and see how things go. :)

Sounds like as good a plan as any. It's a difficult situation and you're clearly well balanced and well equipped to adjust to the situation when you're all together next time. And your grands benefit too. Good luck.

The feeling I have for my next-door neighbor is as close to hatred as I can get, but his two children do not enter the equation. I would happily set him on fire, but, when the kids come over selling candy bars/magazines for school/Scouts I buy their shit, right along w/Mom & Popdigr. I talk with the kids whenever we see each other. We get along great.

I just can't force the sins of the father onto the kids. They've done nothing to me.

Now, when the boy turns sixteen, gets a loud truck, and starts waking me up @ 6am, like his daddy, Ima throw him on the pyre with his father.

Until then, he's just a kid.