Feeling quite down

[Thatlowfeeling]

This could be long... I am just feeling very down today and need to write things down. My dh has had to go away for work for a week. I am on my own with my 3 absolutely adorable but seriously hard work dc.
I just feel very alone. I work part-time at the moment in an area I love but this year for a variety of reasons I am working around the dcs so they are with me a lot.
One of the things I can’t quite get my head around is that I have a large family living nearish like under an hour and no one ever , ever spends time with me. My mother or father has never even been for a walk with me and the kids or to the park or in fact anywhere. It’s hard to explain as on the surface they come across absolutely lovely. I get wonderful txt messages but a visit is actually quite stressful and awkward as they come maybe once every 4 months and sit down looking at me deal with the dcs who behave sort of more excited when they visit. They then run out the door an hour later.
I don’t expect babysitting and in the last 7 years of being a parent have never had even a seconds babysitting from my family. I have brothers and sisters and they are all exactly the same. I’d also like to add before I had my own dcs I was the aunt playing on the floor or pushing the swings and I wouldn’t have thought twice about offering to help for a couple of hours when they needed help/they were sick etc and I regularly did.
Their attitude baffles me and also makes me feel very sad tbh. I know I can’t change it. Think it’s just as I face the week on my own I am really conscious of this. It’s also something that stings a bit everyday as the school gates/parks etc seem full of involves grandparents. I can’t imagine in the future knowing my daughter was alone with young kids and not calling to suggest meeting up or trying to spend time with her and her kids. I think my dm pretends that it’s down to not wanting to interfere but I honestly don’t believe it. I have made suggestions before about doing things and they have been declined or just ignored.
Has anyone else experienced something similar?

You do sound very down :( it's lonely and hard work looking after kids on your own.

Do your relatives know how you feel? Is there anyone in the family you feel close enough to that you could open up about needing a bit more?

I mentioned it to a close relative that I found it quite lonely and isolating at times. They reacted really defensively and became quite sarcastic, I was really taken aback tbh.
I am usually a pretty positive, energetic person. I think I just going through a low point. I appreciate that I am extremely lucky also. My situation just seems unusual in comparison to my friends and neighbors etc. Thanks for relying

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. We get no help from in laws either but that's because they are all about a 6 hour drive away. I know it can feel lonely and that I also wish I could have my parents or siblings around for moral support sometimes. I don't have any real advice except that I think you should really spell it out to your family. I know you've suggested things in the past but unless you really explain how you feel I think they might not understand. They might just assume you're busy and happy with your family and everything's fine. My mum is very humble and never seems to understand that we want to see more of her. She truly believes she's just a nuisance and gets in the way. It's completely untrue. I know you tried to suggest it to someone and they didn't take it well - well I'd try talking to someone else. Not saying it in an accusatory way but just stating how lonely you feel and you'd love to see more of the family. How you feel low sometimes. I also think it's important to ask them why you see so little of them. Is it that they're busy, is it that your children are a little exhausting (mine certainly are and I know they exhaust my parents)? If you talk calmly and openly about why you don't see more of them you might come up with a solution to suit everyone.