Bedsider

Family feud: What to do if your parents hate who you’re dating

Yesterday’s Frisky Friday had some excellent advice (in our humble opinion) about how to deal with friction between your parents and your significant other. A taste:

Do your parents still see you as their baby? They need to realize that you’ve got to grow up sometime.

Talk to them. Communicate like an adult. Without any pouting or fighting, ask them why they don’t like your S.O. and what kind of person they think you should be with.

Address their concerns. Let them know why you are with this person and what you get out of the relationship. Give them a glimpse of your maturity and help them understand where you’re coming from.

Try some ground rules. Setting boundaries might help them feel more comfortable and give you space to carry on without their glaring disapproval. Maybe you decide to spend time more family time without your S.O. around. If you live at home, maybe you agree to stay out of the bedroom when the S.O. is over. The goal is to assert your independence in a way that your parents support. Hopefully this will calm their fear of losing you and they won’t transfer that fear into disliking your S.O.

Read the rest and let us know in the comments what’s worked for you in keeping the peace between family and partners.