Expert: David Simonsen - 12/4/2007

Question
My very successful son-in-law constantly knocks our family. For instance, berating my hearing, aging, I'm 68.8 yrs, he's 46.5 yrs, but, I'm compassionate; I could attack him on several personal subjects like his affliction with MS, and a possible side effect that he has not had intimate relations with his wife, my daughter, since their last pregnancy, 18 mo ago. How can I shut him down?

Answer
Ray,
Way to go on taking the high road and being honorable. There are a couple things you could do. Lash out, Limit contact, when he does say the things he says you could point out that he must have a lot of sadness, pain in his life to always be knocking down others. Ultimately I think that is how he deals with the fear of his illness and situation in his own life. He sounds like he may just be an unhappy guy. Unfortunately you have to tolerate it or not.
David
www.help4ife.net