The dynamics of a family can be complicated, especially when it comes to differing beliefs and opinions.
Recently, a person took to Reddit to ask whether he was wrong for telling his SIL to not put her thoughts on life and death into his son’s head. Let’s take a look at the full story.
A Happy Family
The Original Poster (OP) aged 55 and his wife aged 43 live together with their children in the same city as OP’s sister, Margot, her wife, Alexandra, and their two children, 7 and 4 years old.
Beliefs Don’t Matter
OP and his family are devout Christians, but his sister and her wife are atheists. They all genuinely care about each other, and their beliefs have no impact at all on their connection.
The Son Loves to Visit His Aunt’s Place
His 14-year-old son loves his cousins and always requests to visit his aunts. OP sends him over around once a week after Margot says it’s okay.
Things Started to Change
Everything was going well till his son started saying things about life and his beliefs, they were remarkably close to what his sister would say about most things.
Is He Influenced by Her?
OP’s son has a great deal of respect for his Aunt, Alexandra, who is a surgeon.
Because of this, the son is particularly influenced by her opinions. He looks up to her as a person who knows a lot about things.
He Starts Questioning Faith
At dinner, OP’s son started to sway family opinions by saying contradictory ideas.
He Needs Some Space
As a result, OP became a bit distressed and he told Alexandra that his son was being influenced by her. He asked her to give his son some space so he could figure out his beliefs on his own.
He Is a Bright Young Boy
In response, Alexandra assured him that additional knowledge would be beneficial and that, regardless of his beliefs, he was a bright young boy who would make a wonderful adult.
It Angered Her
OP begged her not to bring up these topics with him, but she became enraged and said that OP was overbearing.
Although she later said that she would let his son decide the topics of their conversations as long as he was permitted to visit.
They Have Become Cold Toward Him
Both Margot and Alexandra have been cold towards OP since this incident. Now, OP is left wondering if he was wrong for calling and saying those things to his SIL.
Readers Respond
The Reddit thread received hundreds of comments, voicing their opinions.
Many Redditors said that OP was wrong and that he was controlling. That, he, like most parents think their children are being ‘unduly influenced’ and ‘brainwashed’ by everyone else.
One commenter said, “All I see here is a parent wanting to control what his son learns, and that is not what those nasty atheists can tell him.
If you cut your kid off from someone he looks up to, it won’t stop him from asking questions or even Google his answers, but what it will do is put a wedge between you both.
Got to give it to organized religion; the only way is our way, and we cut you off from anything else.”
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The post He’s a Devout Christian and He Asked His Sister-In-Law Not to Put Her Ideas Into His Son’s Head… Was He Wrong? first appeared on Fistful of Dollars.
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Krakenimages.com. The people shown in the images are for illustrative purposes only, not the actual people featured in the story.
Source: Reddit