Parents hijack son's vacation plans and repeatedly push back against inviting his wife's family, so he cancels the trip altogether: 'My wife's family isn't his family'

Cata Holmes • Writer

Jun 17, 2026 8:00 AM EDT

Should parents have a say in who gets invited on a family vacation they didn't plan?

This is not another story where the in-laws do not approve of their son's partner and try to exclude her from every plan. This one is far more complicated, because not only are we talking about a married couple with three daughters, but we're also talking about flying to the husband's home country, where all his family lives, and from where they protest about the trip.

I can totally relate to this story because my whole family lives in different countries. We have no close relatives in out home city, so we tend to travel to visit quite often. Even though my grandparents (or even my parents) have never rejected a partner like the ones in this story, I can say that being jealous about having the other family join the trip is not that uncommon.

See, when you live far away from your own family, you really expect to see them and get really excited when a trip is finally getting organised. And since you miss them and want to share your time with them, it's a bit annoying when they propose to bring their in-laws. It's not about not wanting to receive them: it's more about having them hang out with other people rather than you. Plus, everything gets weirder if you don't know the people they're bringing.

Although I tend to side with the family here, I don't think their response was that accurate. Having the son cancel the trip because of how much they pressured him is a mistake. No matter how deep the jealousy was, I believe they had to hold on for one second before exploding and sharing those thoughts. What's your opinion? What would you have done?

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_{A representation of a man standing on a beach near the shoreline.}
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via Unsplash+ (via Vitaly Gariev)

_{A representation of an older couple making a video call on a smartphone from their living room.}
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_{A representation of a person using a laptop while sitting on a bed.}
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The story shared by u/Ill-Working-551 in r/AITH can teach us a lesson. Sometimes, it is best to think beyond yourself and to put yourself in the other person's shoes. From the POV of the son, he just wanted to share the moment with his wife's family and show them where he comes from. He didn't have bad intentions, and I think he expected to have his family's support.