BIL now feels rightfully liberated from having to play this game at all. |
+1 this is the only sane answer. |
There is a difference between being polite and being stupid and mean-spirited. He could have insulted the wife, the person who actually called him. He could have told her " My money, my choice." Why bring her children into it? Did they call him to whine? |
Wow, are you okay? You seem strangely worked up about this. |
Glad someone admits it's a game for this idiot BIL. He does not care that this makes it difficult for him to visit the niece he claims to love so much. It's all about scoring points and putting his brother's wife in her place. |
OP the disturbing pattern here is that you didn’t stand up for anyone except your daughter—including yourself.
Your wife is 100% wrong. Your brother is 100% right BUT he did disrespect your wife and family in the way he expressed it bc he knew full well the problems that would create for you and how now you won’t be able to have him over at your house. He doesn’t like your wife, fine: he doesn’t get to say so. And he certainly doesn’t get to insult your step kids. He gets to say no. You chose this woman and these kids and made them your family and yes, your loyalty should be to them not your brother. That’s not to say She isn’t wrong. She is. But he can say no without degrading your family. OTOH you wife is absolutely trying to sabotage this relationship and your daughter’s relationship with her uncle, and you need to defend that to the teeth. So: 1) you didn’t defend your wife against your brother 2) you didn’t defend your daughter against your wife 3) you didn’t defend yourself against your wife and have been sleeping on the sofa. Your wife is the common denominator and source of these problems. However, she’s your wife now, and you need to defend your own family and yourself. |
How does it make it difficult for BIL to see his niece? She’s nearly an adult with her own transportation. She doesn’t need OP’s terrible wife to facilitate any visits. Nor does it sound like either of them would want her to. |
True, but doesn't family visit even if you can go see them? Why limit the visits to one person driving to see the other and not both ways? BIL has effectively done this. |
Sounds good to me. If I were the BIL, I would’t want to see OP’s wife or kids either. Why would you ever want to be around someone like that? I would limit visits to OP and my niece. |
This. For all the people saying that spouses are forever, OP and his wife both know that this isn’t true. OP is on his second marriage, his brother is still his brother. I could see this marriage dissolving and OP still having a good relationship with his brother. It’s not nice to talk about, but it’s true. |
OP's situation is what happens when a man marries solely for proximity to and frequency of pu$$y only to end up with his hand, a couch and step children he couldn't care less about.
Serves him right for thinking with his small brain. |
The niece loses in this situation. She feels less at home in OP's home because BIL lacks impulse control. Imagine having a home where your favorite people cannot visit you. Is that really home? |
Ok but he he is still married to his current wife so at this juncture his loyalty should go to his wife over his brother. |
Why does it make it more difficult to visit his niece? She’s 17 and presumably he can get her from her mom’s house if OP makes the (unwise) decision to ban him from his house. Not conceding to people like the wife is often the best answer. It’s called boundaries and it shows the niece that he is on her side. |
leading to the inevitable conclusion … |