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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You sound very difficult and want life to revolve around you.[/quote]

NP here.  I agree.  I'm childless/childfree (however you want to spin it).  But I'm not young and I'm not clueless.  I don't expect other people to structure their lives around me, but the flip side to that is that I don't structure my life around them.

I have inlaws with kids, and they get nasty if we can't make some child-related thing.  My husband and I work long hours and have grueling commutes.  My husband also travels a lot for his work.  So our schedules aren't flexible.  Weekends are when I catch on things -- laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning.  I get home late on weeknights.

But my inlaws with kids don't get it.  They think because we don't have kids that we our time is not valuable.  And they assume that because they decided to have kids and we did not that somehow we owe them our time, our money, our resources.

They NEVER call us on birthdays.  They never call us or inquire about how we are or how things are going in our lives.  But if we don't fawn all over their kids and shower them with gifts, they give us a guilt trip.

OP's relatives sound clueless, but OP sounds pretty clueless too.  If OP doesn't communicate boundaries, then she can't complain.   If I don't want to do something or can't, I say no.  I don't care if people think I'm a killjoy.  And if people with kids tell me they can't do something, I don't get all bent out of shape about it.  People -- with kids and without -- have busy lives.  It's not my place to tell someone how to spend their time, but I also vehemently protect my own time.  It's a limited resource.[/quote]

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