Woman left family for guy who’s back in jail, asks: How to mend family relationship without listening to “I told you so” from them?

A woman wrote on the NUS Whispers Facebook page on Wednesday (May 11) that her family had been “super against” her relationship with a man with a criminal past, to the point of “kicking me out of the family because they wanted nothing to do with anyone with a criminal record.”

And despite her attempts to explain that he had changed and deserved a second chance, her father would say things like “it’s possible for people to change, but people rarely do” and “it takes a different kind of screw up to make a mistake to land you in jail.” The poster wrote that she made “a big stink” by calling her family names, and finally, left. However, she added that what her father said has come to pass, and the man is now back in jail.

She asked for advice from netizens, writing, “I broke up with that boy and am now living alone. How do I mend my relationship with my family without hearing all the ‘I told you so’ from my family?”

Would be advice dispensers, including NUS Professor Ben Leong, who often weighs in on posts on the page, said that there is very likely no way to avoid the “I told you so.”

“You should thicken your skin,” wrote one commenter.

Many told her that apologizing to her parents is step one.

Some assured her that her parents love her and have never given up on her.

A number of commenters told her to “just go home.”

Some netizens told her she had not been wrong to give someone a second chance.

/TISG

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