Dear Queenie,
It seems like no one in my family can get along with anyone else, and family get-togethers are a mess, with quarrelling and sometimes even physical fights and children crying and no one trying to protect and comfort them.
I don’t take my children to these events anymore and I really don’t want to go to them myself.
Queenie, is there anything I can do to make things better?—Fed up with family
Dear Fed up,
There is no reason you have to attend such events. You can always stay home, and if they ask why you were not present at any get-together, explain your reason for avoiding the family friction – peaceably, but without apologising. And try to arrange for you and your children to see your relatives individually, one at a time.
