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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Before anyone asks: Yes, there are cultural differences here.  I'm Midwestern Catholic, ILs are South Asian Muslim.  Now:

We've been married 9 years.  Kids are 6 and 2.

I'm taking my kids up to my ILs' house in a few weeks.  DH can't come because he'll be working.  While I'm there, his parents have requested to throw a party.  They want to invite the children of all their friends (not the parents who are their age, but only my contemporaries) over to spend time with the kids and me.  Only one of the families has a child.  They were clear that their goal is to create a chance for me to better get to know these family friends.  I think this is terribly awkward.  My husband would probably be happy to see most of them if he was in town, but hasn't kept in touch with them enough to really care one way or the other.  On the other hand, I'm affirmatively dreading having to do this by myself.  I'm an introvert and spending time surrounded by all these people, none of whom I have met enough times to even recognize them on the street, is so stressful.  When MIL suggested it yesterday, I told them I'd (a) rather spend my time just focusing on seeing them and the kids, and (b) rather wait until DH could be there.  She responded that they don't know when DH will be able to visit and it's important to them for me to know their friends' kids.  I have to admit that I don't even understand the impetus -- why do they care who I am friends with? -- but more than anything this particular implementation feels so very awkward to me.  I can't imagine these 30-35yos want to come over to hang out with their childhood friend's wife, do they?

Anyway, can I push back against this any more, or am I stuck?  Keep in mind I can't even drink wine to get through this![/quote]

"It's just a few hours. It's just a few hours."  Keep that in mind and repeat as much as you need to. It's strange a strange party but are they usually this pushy about things? [/quote]

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