ARGH! My family is driving me a little crazy!!!!!

[IdaBriggs]

I have a trouble-maker niece (age 19). She is a spoiled brat who is NOT a nice person. She was kicked out of her house for extremely valid reasons (hitting her mother / being verbally abusive / refusing to obey anything resembling a house rule), and dropped out of her first semester of college because she is an IDIOT. (Frankly, this wasn't a surprise: most of the fights she and her mother got into involved her refusal to get out of bed to go to high school....)

Grandma (my mom) didn't want her on the streets, and since she had already been too disruptive in her home (my niece shares her verbal abusive with anyone who is even vaguely nice to her), Grandma gave her money to get her own apartment. Of course, she promptly moved her unemployed 21 year old boyfriend in with her. (He has a child from a previous relationship, and can't afford to pay child support, so he makes a *GREAT* roommate, right?)

Anyway, last year she was arrested on a shop-lifting charge. She was put on probation, and given 35 hours of community service, plus some classes, etc. Nearly a year later, she still hasn't completed *ANY* of the community service (with a list of excuses a mile long). Today she had to go in front of the judge to explain why - and frankly, there was some hope from me that SOMEONE would hold her accountable for her terrible behavior, but Grandma went with her, and supposedly she has everything "scheduled" (because 8 months - 35 hours - couldn't happen before now!!!!) -- and my mother actually said to me --

"I AM SO PROUD OF HER!!!!"

Yes, my mother is PROUD of the little criminal because she isn't going to jail. Of course, we just found out this weekend that she pawned a solid gold bracelet my mother gave her for a pittance of its value, and has been lying about it for months, such that it can't be saved.

But Grandma is PROUD of her because she handled herself really well in front of the judge, who if she hadn't been being a little criminal, and/or had handled her business months ago, SHE WOULDN'T EVEN HAVE BEEN HAVING TO SEE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[lunatica]

1. I had a niece like that

Jesus what a nightmare! She was only 17 but man did she make us all miserable. She ended up running away so when she was picked up and put in juvenal hall I told the judge I wasn't going to take her back. That she had a mother where she could go. It was horrible!

[IdaBriggs]

4. I used to feel sorry for her, but that stopped when I witnessed her hitting her mom.

That happened when she was 16. She was listening to her Ipod in school (against the rules) and the teacher took it away / she got put in detention for it. When she came home, her mother backed the teacher, and told her she was "losing" the Ipod for a week. My niece literally started a physical fight over the Ipod. I witnessed her kicking her mother, and she ended up in the tub, putting on a drama show like I had *never* seen before. I ended up helping to restrain her, and finally told her step-dad (who was staying WAY AWAY FROM IT for fear of getting accused of something he wasn't doing) to get me a pot of cold water. My niece was screaming that she couldn't calm down, and I told her I'd dump the water on her if she didn't get herself under control. She tried to spill the water on me - at which point the pot went over he head. She screamed "MY HAIR!" and was instantly able to "calm down" when I told her step-dad to get me more.

I don't bluff. Later, I told her if she *EVER* physically attacked her mother again, I would sneak in at night, and she'd wake up bald. Aunt Ida doesn't bluff, and I wasn't told about anymore issues (and didn't witness anymore physical stuff) until after she'd been kicked out (last December).

[seabeyond]

2. my brothers kids... three of them. my dad. yup. i know the story.

i had to tell the nephews... criminals. we have never had criminals in our family. not huggie... but shame. everyone else coddles and gets them out of trouble, including the niece. i hide my credit cards and cash when they come over.... now the two nephews arent allowed over. we are the only ones that hold them accountable. steal from walmart, steal from anyone.

mine has been going on a while. i hear ya. i really do.

[IdaBriggs]

5. Its embarrassing. My mother keeps doing the "coddle" thing.

The whole "proud" line is just --- unbelievable. I really don't even know what to say to her!!!

[seabeyond]

7. ya, well, in a handful of years, she will get it. and how she inabled

it has been about 5 yrs of them all messing up and father finally saying.... no excuse. if these kids had paid the price, day one, it might not be five years later.

and ya, it is embarrassing.

[logosoco]

3. Hey, I have a crappy neice too

She is my neice by marriage. Today is her 38th birthday. Between jail times, she has managed to have 6 kids, has maybe worked 6 months out of her whole life. Because my mother-in-law is always "helping" her, my mother in law stands ready to lose her paid for house (over back taxes).
My husbands family doesn't think too much of me because I refuse to have anything to do with her anymore, after she ripped off my neighbor of about $3000. (My neighbor lost an eye to cancer and is on disabilty, he was trying to help her out).

Maybe we could start a club?

[IdaBriggs]

6. Sign me up. Sigh. She isn't welcome into our home anymore

and we have been skipping any family event (or making plans to be there when she isn't) for several months now. She made the mistake of thinking she could threaten me; I don't play. I have stated categorically that we won't have anything to do with her until she can go THREE MONTHS without telling both her mother and grandmother to F*CK OFF as a start. So far she is about six weeks with her grandmother, and less than two weeks with her mother. (This decree has been in effect since the beginning of September - this is the longest she's gotten!)