Can relate to everything you say!

The saying "blood is thicker than water" really annoys me. It's another example of family bad behaviour being excused. Different members of my family (blood relatives and those introduced through marriage) play this game. No, they cannot demand that you tell them everything. In my case, I don't so some make it up anyway.

Rarely can family give an objective view if you confide in them and would like support. It's what I call family dynamics.

My sister-in-law is a difficult person to like. She has no filter. A few years ago, she told me that my mother and aunt (mother's sister) "do her head in". To this day I've never repeated that comment to anyone in the family despite sister-in-law lashing out at me last year. My mother has tried many times (and failed) since that event to discredit me and force me into apologising. My brother thinks it's funny and said about his wife "oh, she wasn't going to hit you". His attitude is to talk over me. If he said it enough times, he'd convince himself his wife didn't do anything wrong. If I told my mother what had been said about her, it would probably completely ruin her delicate state of health.

That's how I can relate to everything you say. Just because they are family, it does not excuse bad behaviour. There's very few people in my life that I would feel comfortable confiding in and yes, most are family members. Trust has to be earned, same as respect regardless of whether family or friend.