Family Issues Support Group
Family issues is a huge range that go from minor conflict to major misbehaviour and even abuse on the part of individual members of the family occur. Whether you feel you are in a dysfunctional family or you're dealing with a very specific issue, this is the place to talk about it and find others who might be going through the same thing.
Just wondering here. My mom passed away when I was 32 years old. My dad remarried a friend of hers when I was 33. At first it seemed to be going okay. I was still grieving for my mom, but I really tried to understand my dad was lonely and needed someone. But then my "step mother" seemed to want to tell me how to run my life. She made comments about how I was raising my children and got really hostile towards me. I am a "stay at home" mom, she does not approve. She told my husband that he needed to "be a man" and demand that I go to work and put my kids in daycare "where they belonged". She told other family members what a horrible mother I was and how I neglected my children because I volunteered with the youth baseball league and girl scouts and church. My family and I are never invited to family events (for example, my dad's 60th birthday party, Thanksgiving dinner this year) I have never responded in kind, but I am very uncomfortable around her. My dad doesn't understand this. He doesn't see that she has done anything wrong. My dad is my kids only living grandparent, and I wish they were allowed to have some kind of relationship with him. But I just don't see how.
I can share my opinion, however, on staying at home with your kids. My wife is a stay-at-home too. I make decent money, but we do without a lot of things that our friends and acquaintances have with both parents working.
I am a bit offended with the idea of daycare being where kids belong. I don't have a problem with parents deciding to put their kids in daycare, but my preference is to have my kids raised by one of us. I think in the long run it will be better for them.
So I definitely wanted to add my support to your decision on staying at home, as well as doing all that volunteering.