Complicated family dynamics don’t disappear just because it’s Christmas and festive classics are playing.<\/p>\n
One minute you’re merrily drinking mulled wine, the next being asked why you’re not happily married or whether you are planning children.<\/p>\n
Any resentments, tensions and difference in values will remain with the added pressure of fulfilling a fantasy image of happy families.<\/p>\n
Passive aggressive comments often come from someone else’s stress and insecurity, says psychotherapist Sarah Turner. This doesn’t excuse the behaviour, but can make it feel less personal.<\/p>\n
When we feel stung our instinct is to defend or withdraw, but Turner advises pausing first. “You have the power to choose how to respond.”<\/p>\n
Another tip is to ask for clarification. Often loved ones will reframe what they said rather than repeat it – as they are likely to know it’s a loaded comment.<\/p>\n
If there’s a “kernel of truth” in what they say, then acknowledging this can help “emotions de-escalate because they feel heard,” Turner adds.<\/p>\n
This doesn’t mean you agree or give in – it’s simply letting that person know you understand where they’re coming from. In the heat of family dynamics, this can make all the difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Complicated family dynamics don’t disappear just because it’s Christmas and festive classics are playing. One minute you’re merrily…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":329315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-329314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}