Name changed due to very personal information under my own username and I’ve spoken to a few real life friends about this (have been around since 2007 (icod/Littlelapin etc etc)
I work in a very multicultural environment and usually everyone runs along very well. There is one man who is bothering me quite a bit and I can’t put my finger on why.
I am a single mother (divorced). I also have another child from outside that marriage. He makes comments, which aren’t said in a nasty way but which are bothering me.
His comments are about my culture (white British), we don’t take marriage or family serious enough.
We give up too soon. In his culture marriage is for life and his children are raised the same way. We don’t look after our old people like they do, we don’t take family or respect for older people seriously. None of this is said in a nasty way; you can tell he genuinely believes this to be true.
My DD has a part time job whilst she is doing her A levels. This is something he commented on that in his culture this wouldn’t happen as children are supported so they can take their education seriously. I argued back with this and said well she’s learning responsibility and independence. This circled back to the “family supporting each other” argument.
I was having a discussion with my daughter on the phone about her tidying the house whilst I was at work. She didn’t want to do it as she had plans with her friends. Again he commented when I got off the phone that his kids and kids of his culture wouldn’t be so disrespectful to their parents.
I would like to tackle this as it’s bothering me but I don’t know the best way to go about it without basically saying well you’ve got your culture and we have ours (which has been my tactic for the last few months)