I’m Ayano, and I’m raising two kids—Kou, who’s four, and Mimi, who’s two—with my husband, Hiroshi. We’ve always made a point to spend regular time with my in-laws. Recently, however, my sister-in-law, Kyoko, went through a divorce and moved into the neighborhood near the in-laws with her two boys, Taro (eight) and Jiro (five). Since then, they’ve joined us on every single outing. It seems like my in-laws and sister-in-law are looking to my husband to fill the “father” role for my nephews. Am I being petty for feeling so uneasy about all of this?
Even with our own children clearly wanting to go home, my husband just kept glancing over at me, looking conflicted and unsure of what to do. I told him, “We’re going to talk about this when we get home,” and left with the kids. I didn’t want to get into a fight in front of them.
My husband won’t just put his foot down, my sister-in-law has been counting on him from the start, and his parents are acting as if they actually want him to step in as a father figure for their grandkids. Why does my sister-in-law’s divorce have to drag our family into this mess?