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[quote=Anonymous]My inlaws are very pleasant people. Friendly and conversational, we are not close, but get along fine and generally get together at holidays and family events throughout year, but do not live near each other. My quibble is going to seem minor compared to other people's inlaw probably, but it's gnawing at me especially with another holiday visit approaching.

I am a working mom and my inlaws do not acknowledge anything about my career. Now I'm not one who would want to talk about work in social and family settings, but their main topic of conversation with my husband, their son, is his career. They are always asking about his work, which they are very impressed by, although he is reticent to discuss with them. When initiating conversation with me, it's always related to our children. Which is fine, but I think I'm feeling a bit burned lately as I'm working in a fairly demanding field and am also fielding most of the responsibility for kid related stuff too. It's like they can't envision that as a woman I have anything going on outside of kid related work. FWIW, their daughter, who also has s career and kids, reports that this is their dynamic with her too. So it's not personal, I guess. Also, in 10 years of marriage to their son, they've never acknowledged that I didn't take his last name and insist on addressing things to me as MyFirstName HisLastName.

I know I'm not going to change them, but how to get through upcoming extended time with them without getting too ticked off? It really does hurt my feelings that there is no acknowledgement that I do anything outside the home but I don't think confronting them would be productive, just awkward.

Thanks for reading. [/quote]

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