[beachedwhale]

I am a divorced mother of two boys. I was very close to my ex mother in law(MIL) who just passed away in May. I was living with my ex sister in law (SIL) until last month too. Cindy is really taking her mothers death very hard and her behavior is more erratic than before. She has always had a quick temper and prone to temper tantrums but now we are all afraid of her. She will not admit she needs help and we are at our wits end. She does not even like for my sons to stay with her stepfather (FIL)even though he loves having them there. I will not let my sons stay with him anymore out of fear of what SIL will do. Any advice on getting her help and helping the family to stop enabling her erratic behavior?

[Leed]

Can you do a sort of "intervention?" How about getting all the family together with Cindy there. You could initially say it was some sort of "party" or get-together when in reality it's to all sit down and confront Cindy about her behavior. If everyone has a chance to say something to her about her behavior -one at a time - and tell her how she has affected them or their family - perhaps she'll get the picture and realize that she needs help.

If only one or two people tell her, it will be easy for her to deny it, but when the whole family confronts her she can't deny that she has a problem. Hopefully then she'll consider getting outside help for her anger issue, or whatever it is she's dealing with.

Just a thought, but it may work. I wish you the very best! Keep us posted and God bless! Hugs, Lee