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This RV is only big enough for one set of grandkids

By Amy Dickinson, Tribune Content Agency on

Dear Amy: I have two sons, and my sister-in-law has three children: two girls and a boy.

Neither of my boys is interested in sports, but one niece and my nephew are involved in several sports. As a result, their grandparents go to many games and spend a great deal of time with that side of the family.

Recently, the grandparents bought a new RV and invited my nieces/nephew to go camping with them. My children had no such offer.

When my husband confronted his mother on this matter, she said he was just being jealous. But she still hasn't invited our children camping, nor have their grandparents had any contact with them in a month.

My husband feels that we are left out a lot.

My in-laws' response is typically that it's just that they go to the games. Is that a valid reason to spend more time with part of the family over the other part of the family?

 

Wouldn't taking the nonathletes camping be a great way to get that quality time, since they pursue less popular activities?

-- Feeling Hurt

Dear Feeling: On the one hand, sports are very time consuming and can interfere with relationships. On the other, they give grandparents (and others) a fairly easy way to connect with the children in their lives by attending games.

Assuming that your children are as accessible to these grandparents as the other set of grandchildren, your in-laws are, in fact, being patently unfair when excluding your children.

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