I’ve whined about our sister-in-law before, e.g., when we paid college tuition for her kid and she then booked a private-pay, not recommended by her doctor, MRI just because she was “worried,” said paid MRI costing roughly what we paid in tuition. Whatever.
Yesterday, SIL “noticed” two spots on her abdomen. She left work in a panic, raced home, grabbed the family iPad to google symptoms, only to find her husband’s browser history was, “my wife is a hypochondriac.” Much hilarity ensued. Will she get help? Time will today. As of today she has flooded our in boxes with all the reasons she does not have illness anxiety disorder. I’m just keeping my head down.
Ultimately, much as we may want to, there’s no way to save children from the folly of their parents. The largest thing we can possibly do is but a drop in the poor kids’ buckets.
Modeling being sane and, as the kids get older making sure they know you’re always there to be a backup parent in a crisis are about all you can really do. The rest just amounts to enabling the crazy parent to do teh crazy.
Pretty much where we are with it. She is a loving mom, tough backstory, but the anxiety issues that manifest in IAD and compulsive shopping and ADHD are hard on everyone. The hardest part is she refuses to get help. Her husband is a good, steady guy, but is wearing out from all the crazy. The kids know we’re there for them, but as you say, we can only do so much. What a year!
