It can be extremely painful to realize that not all of your relatives have your best interests at heart. Loneliness, fear, ignorance, or even malice can make them do bad things to the people they (supposedly) love. And the sad fact is that some relatives criticize you and try to control you no matter how good of a parent you are. Some, however, go a step way too far…

One redditor, a mom to a three-year-old boy, shared a very dramatic tale on the AITA subreddit, asking the community for a verdict on whether or not she was wrong to tell her own mother that she never wants to see her again. The situation got out of control after the OP’s mom flew in to visit her grandson. The visit started off bad from the very first moment.

But things came to a head when the grandma kidnapped her grandson, and the author of the story, panicking, had to get the police involved. Scroll down for the full story, in the OP’s own words, dear Pandas. Whose side are you? What would you have done if you were in the redditor’s situation? How do you think we can enforce healthy familial boundaries? Tell us what you think in the comments.

It’s terrifying to think that your child might have been kidnapped by someone. As it turns out, that someone can be a close family member

Image credits: Min An (not the actual photo)

One woman shared how deeply scared she was when she realized her own mother kidnapped her three-year-old son

Image credits: Pixabay (not the actual photo)

The OP shared a lot of context about their mom and what kind of person she is. From the information revealed in the AITA post, it’s clear that she’s bitter, super critical of everything her daughter does, thinks she’s a better parent than her, and gets mad at her grandson.

We’ll be honest, if someone were to treat our kids this way, they’d be politely asked to leave. However, things are always more difficult when the family’s involved. Especially someone who feels entitled to spending time with your child.

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Boundaries, according to dating and relationship expert Dan Bacon, are very important in life, in general. “Too much power can corrupt a person’s behavior,” the founder of The Modern Man told Bored Panda earlier that people who have too much power can become selfish and mean, even if they were nice and caring before.

The expert noted that it’s vital to enforce those boundaries and to stand up for yourself in an assertive, loving way. Getting upset and sulking about when your boundaries are walked over may mean that the other person loses respect for you. Boundaries that don’t get enforced don’t count as boundaries.
Dan added that having your boundaries respected doesn’t mean that you have to be bossy or domineering. You have to approach things in a way that makes the other person feel respected, so that they’ll respect you in turn.

“If respect is only one way in the relationship, problematic behavior will naturally emerge and boundaries may be defied or disrespected by an otherwise nice, loving and caring person.”

The author of the story shared more of her thoughts, as well as more context, in the comments of her viral post

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