I’m Keiko. My husband, Koji, and I are raising three daughters—Ayane (8th grade), Kaori (4th grade), and little Madoka, who’s six. And my biggest headache is Koji’s younger sister, Nao. She and my mother-in-law keep insisting that Nao’s daughter, Rin, should be “like a little sister” to my girls. They want to come over constantly, too.
I gave in and set up a playdate, but Madoka got sick, so I cancelled. Then Nao just texted, “We’re coming anyway,” and suddenly showed up at our door with her kid. I couldn’t let them in. I told Koji how stressed I was, he helped smooth things over, and I really thought it was settled. But when we visited his parents later, my mother-in-law hit me with, “You should think about other people’s feelings.” Seriously?
She must’ve believed Nao’s side of the story completely. When she heard what actually happened from me, she argued at first, but eventually ran out of words.
From the way she talked, I realized Nao didn’t think she’d done anything wrong at all—and that was shocking. Hearing Nao’s version made it clear how differently she sees things. It really hit me that our values just don’t align. And honestly… maybe it’s better that I finally understand that.