In an ideal world, everyone would get on all of the time. But life isn’t like that. Some people just don’t gel together and some actively dislike others. But when your parents don’t get on with your partner, it is particularly difficult and awkward. After all, these people form your closest relationships and when they dislike each other, you can feel stuck in the middle.
Try to understand why your parents don’t like your partner. Is there a particular personality trait they disapprove of? Or is it just that no one will ever be good enough for you in their eyes? If you trust your parents’ judgement, you many need to ask yourself whether they have a point – is your partner actually right for you?
If you intend having a long-term, or maybe a life-long relationship with your partner, then you’ll need to help your parents come to terms with this. You can’t go through life with the people you love the most, hating each other. Ask them to respect your decision to be with this person and request that even if they don’t like your partner to try and be civil in their company.
Rather than aiming to get your parents to love your partner, try making small incremental improvements to their relationship. So instead of booking a family holiday in a bid for everyone to ‘get to know each other better’, perhaps just let them meet for a coffee once a fortnight.
Let your parents see how happy you are in your relationship and hopefully they will be able to put their differences aside and make the effort to be nice to your partner for your sake.
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