Arghhh!!!
As above. I'm feeling a tad stressed, and need to let it out!
There's been lots going on in my family recently, and the new one is my sister sending her son away to boarding school... which has gone down like a lead balloon.
Oh, I don't really know where to start with it all, as so much has happened this year.
She lost her husband, late summer, and the eldest child has been playing up recently, as in misbehaving. We all say this is probably a "cry for help", and his way of dealing with his emotions. We've suggested she seeks professional help (we've all tried, but it's gone beyond that) and maybe arranges for him to see a counselor, but she's having none of it.
She turned to Islam a few years ago, and plans on sending him to a Muslim boarding school next year. They way she speaks about it, it sounds more of a prison, than a school! My poor parents are worried sick, and really don't want him to go. She says it's her choice (which it obviously is) and that he's going whether he likes it or not. She said she can't handle him, and that if he's like this now, "imagine what he's going to be like when he's 15". (He's 11, by the way).
I just spoke to her on the phone, as my Mum said she's been really down. I tried to speak to her about her husbands passing, and how she's feeling, but all she wants to speak about is religion and this new boarding school thing.
I ended up hanging up. I know that's awful, and I feel really bad, but I try to tell her I'm not interested in Islam, but she doesn't listen.
My parents are now sick with worry, as they don't believe her son, their grandchild, wants to go and that she is "forcing" him.
I even said to my sister that, if she's having trouble with him, why doesn't she let him come and stay with me and my children for a while. She said no. Apparently he needs to be around "the brothers" and have a Muslim education.
My parents aren't even allowed to speak to him on the phone, so they can't speak to him about it, and ask what he thinks.
So they have any "rights" with this kind of thing? Can she make him go, even if he doesn't want to, or would the grandparents get a say in it, if push came to shove?
I hate, hate, hate asking this kind of thing on here, as I always worry one of my family members could see it.
However, I'm asking this with the best intentions at heart, and I just want to try and help my parents out with their worry and concern.
Thanks.