Reply to If your parents moved far away during retirement

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Reply to "If your parents moved far away during retirement"

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[quote=Anonymous]I don't really buy into the idea of there being any obligation whatsoever on either side to do anything they don't want to do.  Everyone is entitled to live their own lives and make their own choices based on what they are willing and able to do, while recognizing that all choices have consequences.

I can understand being disappointed that grandparents choose to move far away when they retire; however, it is their decision. If they still want a close relationship with you/your children, it is their responsibility to foster that relationship as much as possible.  This should include them traveling to you and perhaps offering to pay for your to travel to them, while recognizing that it isn't just cost that makes travel difficult for families.

If you want a close relationship with your retired parents/in laws in a distant location, then you get over their choice to be far away and do whatever you can to prioritize the relationship.  This would include prioritizing travel to visit them as opposed to other kinds of travel.  Or you decide that you'd rather not spend your time off and vacation funds for travel to see family all the time and don't.  It is your choice.

Both my husband's family and my family live in states requiring 3 hour flights.  Pre-covid we typically traveled to see each side once per year.  The result is that my kids do not have close relationships with our families.  I am sad about that, but our families literally never travel to visit us and it is important to me to be able to travel to other places.  I suppose that means I am prioritizing personal travel over family travel so have my own role to play in the lack of close relationships.[/quote]

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