Tales from the beach house

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy cow! I am so lucky to be born into such a kind family. I am an extremely laid-back, generous and helpful person. I experienced terrible nausea and vomiting whilst pregnant and had to have a pump installed to stay hydrated and carry on with life. I am sure that my friends and family would have been more than accommodating in brewing coffee or cooking pork outside, for the sake of me feeling less Nauseas. You guys are the worst!! Really- where is the empathy?! This woman is growing another person while at the beach with her in-laws... give her a break.

First of all, no one said she could smell it, the wife said that she might be able to smell it. From the lower level to the third floor. Brewing it on the balcony isn't going to help if someone is that sensitive.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Grandparents (DH's parents) told us our kids wandering around in their undies or just shorts inside their house made them uncomfortable. Now we are scrambling to keep them dressed without making them feel weird about their bodies but I can't explain why they want them in clothes because even when they explained it I didn't understand. I just agreed to keep the peace. We've just started saying "grandma wants it this way".

They are 8, 7 and 4 and my grandmother actually said 'she isn't wearing a shirt and she is a young woman!' about the 7 yr old. I corrected her and said 'no, she is a little girl' but I don't want you uncomfortable so that's fine. They are all very skinny- as are his parents- no boobs in sight.

To be clear, it's just us and the grandparents. No visitors/other family. No huge windows where people can see in. My DH is perplexed and we are trying to think where/why this came from. They've never said a thing in our house in DC when they were shirtless. I'm starting to wonder if someone touched grandma as a child

Uh, yeah, they should be clothed at that age, PP.

OP here, and I agree with the PP who agrees that the kids at that age should be clothed. YOU are actually the weird one, no-clothes mom. People are writing about their ILs meaning YOU in this scenario. Why would they not be wearing clothes-clothes, bathing suits and cover ups, or pajamas at least?

I'm not no-clothes mum. Children do need clothes. They are clothed. In underwear, swim trunks or shorts on the bottom. For some reason that isn't enough. (I'm not talking about eating meals at the table without a shirt- we don't do that). Please explain because we are lost (and obviously DH grew up in their home and is annoyed but going along with it).

j

It's just trashy for kids that old not to be wearing clothes and running around in underwear. If it's just transitioning from one activity to the next (like just coming in and are in process of getting showered and dressed, or from pajamas in process of getting dressed into suits), that's fine. But if it's an *8 year old* running around with no clothes on? Hello, no, not appropriate.

Put clothes on your kids. Really.

Exactly. It's really an excuse to be lazy.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Beach vacation with my husband, kids and ILs (FIL/MIL, older aunt/cousin, SIL and her wife and kid). All is going well, and we are having fun. But I thought I'd send some dispatches:

1) SIL's wife is pregnant and is making much of it. She sleeps all day/stays in her room, doesn't watch her 1.5 year old AT ALL, and has her wife running all over at her beck and call: bringing her food, doing her laundry, making special requests like "no coffee this morning, please, my wife is feeling nauseous." We are all rolling with it, but come ON. You are pregnant, it's really not that big a deal.


2) FIL's kitchen habits are kind of funny but kind of gross: microwaving coffee in the late afternoon that had been sitting cold still on the burner all day; standing in the kitchen eating rather than ever sitting down.

3) MIL pretending never to eat indulgent food or drink alcohol, but indulging at every opportunity. It's OK! You can eat and drink, we won't judge!

4) The aunt is a crazy cat lady: any time any of the kids do or say something cute, she launches into a story about her 7 cats. She FaceTimes with her cats via the pet-sitter twice daily.

1) wait, they're saying she doesn't want coffee, or that no one in the house should brew coffee?

2) that's really not that bad at all. at least he's not wasting or hogging the best sofa in the house like other people i've gone on vacation with.

OP here. Yeah, they're saying no one should brew coffee because SIL's wife (who is sleeping in on the lower third level and the kitchen is on the top floor) might smell it.

Wait, I can't have my morning coffee because some woman forgot to take her birth control?!?! A treat for me!

That's a non-starter - I don't think I'd even dignify it with a response, and go about brewing my morning fix.

You're being glib but she didn't "forget to take her birth control" since she's a lesbian.

You're being glib. No one said she's a lesbian. She might be transgender, or bisexual. Just because she's married to a woman--and a drama queen--doesn't mean she's a lesbian.

OP here. For the record, she is bisexual.

I'd be more concerned she's going from one to another in a VERY short amount of time. Either way not right to expect everyone else to be inconvenienced. She probably should have passed up this trip is she wasn't feeling well imo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grandparents (DH's parents) told us our kids wandering around in their undies or just shorts inside their house made them uncomfortable. Now we are scrambling to keep them dressed without making them feel weird about their bodies but I can't explain why they want them in clothes because even when they explained it I didn't understand. I just agreed to keep the peace. We've just started saying "grandma wants it this way".

They are 8, 7 and 4 and my grandmother actually said 'she isn't wearing a shirt and she is a young woman!' about the 7 yr old. I corrected her and said 'no, she is a little girl' but I don't want you uncomfortable so that's fine. They are all very skinny- as are his parents- no boobs in sight.

To be clear, it's just us and the grandparents. No visitors/other family. No huge windows where people can see in. My DH is perplexed and we are trying to think where/why this came from. They've never said a thing in our house in DC when they were shirtless. I'm starting to wonder if someone touched grandma as a child

You are weird and so are your kids. My kids (boys) never walked around topless unless they were swimming or on the beach.

NP. You are weird and so are your kids. Another 'clothes aren't a big deal' family here.

Different can be different. It doesn't have to be weird.

[Anonymous]

Question for vacation etiquette: if you are both working parents, how many days should you be able to take on a vacation with extended family (grandparents, in-laws without kids) for yourself? Say for instance 1 day of golf for dad, 1 spa day for mom, etc?

And if the husband takes three days to play golf in a week and leaves brunt of childcare for the wife, who gets no days, what should the wife get in return? What is suitable quid pro quo when the dad thinks the wife will just let it blow over and the wife wants him to never forget his stupidity again.

Just wondering... for a friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question for vacation etiquette: if you are both working parents, how many days should you be able to take on a vacation with extended family (grandparents, in-laws without kids) for yourself? Say for instance 1 day of golf for dad, 1 spa day for mom, etc?

And if the husband takes three days to play golf in a week and leaves brunt of childcare for the wife, who gets no days, what should the wife get in return? What is suitable quid pro quo when the dad thinks the wife will just let it blow over and the wife wants him to never forget his stupidity again.

Just wondering... for a friend.

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