When your sibling shows no interest in your child — feeling hurt and fed up

Sorry that your brother is behaving like this. I am an only child but my husband is one of 4 and none of his siblings have any interest in our kids either. My children are older teens and have their own mobile phones but still don't have any contact with their auntie or uncle which is a shame as the age gap is quite small. It used to upset me and my kids but doesn't anymore as my daughter has left school and is carving out her own path in life. She hasn't spoken to any of my husband's family since her birthday in April (not through her not trying either) and my son hasn't heard anything since christmas! A great loss for them as they're missing out on a relationship with 2 great kids.

I'm sorry that he seems uninterested, unfortunately you can't push people to be interested in things that they're not.

I think sometimes we get carried away thinking about our expectations and what we want for our children but if he's not interested then that's the end of it. Don't beg for people to pay attention to your child, just smother them in your love and your attention, and give them access to the love and attention of people who DO reach out and DO show interest.

Teach your child to be kind to all but to only pour their emotional time and energy into those who can reciprocate it ❤️

So sorry your going through this but I know how you feel I have family like that my sister has not even met my son and he is almost 4months old never even said congratulations to me knowing how long I have been trying for a baby and how much it has cost me to get my son

I understand this, my sister will maybe like a photo of my son but won't message me about him. My brother doesn't message at all and I have to chase my Mom to get a video call so her and my step Dad can see how their grandson is growing. Got to the point now where I'm no longer going to ask and I have set my Facebook audience to not include them

Not my sibling but my brother in law. He has literally no interest in a relationship with my son and daughter. He's friendly when we see him, but will not go out of his way to interact. He's more talkative to my son whose almost 5, my daughter is a baby so he really wil just say hi. My MIL will buy gifts from him for the kids every single time. It kills me because my son loves him. I'm thankful for my friends who have been uncles to my kids since birth, they make the effort and it shows. Unfortunately there's not much to do except hope one day they'll get it. I definitely understand the hurt though. I know if I had a biological niece or nephew I'd be very involved, I'm very involved with my two "nieces" (best friends daughters).

I can relate. My older sister the first year after my child was born but also the 9mths i was pregnant . She didnt even come celebrate our wedding. She said she was going through stuff so she was just keeping to herself. She met our child when she was 11mth old because I flew out that way. She apologized and I thought it woukd be better but the last year...she has videocalled twice to see her niece. Doesn't ask for photos. My wife has one sister who lives upstairs but has not spent time with her niece since June 2024. And before that was xmas 2023 and before that was april 2023. My wife videos calls her every 2 weeks and so she sees her niece that way. She doesnt ask for photos or updates. I have invited her to the zoo, on our daily walks (because we bumped into her a few times), or to come down and hang but there's always a reason she cant. So I stopped inviting last October.

Im not forcing relationships. My kid deserves to be in relationships with people who are excited to spend time with her.

Yeah when I announced my third pregnancy my brother and his wife were visibly angry and said nothing. Then texted the next day “omg I didn’t realize! Congrats 😍😍😍😍” uh what? You “figured it out” a day after the visit? No you didn’t. I miscarried that pregnancy and have never told them anything again. I’ve since had another baby and hope for more but that killed my interest in ever having a relationship with my brother. It’s a bummer bc his 3 kids are my kids’ only cousins. But that was the straw that broke that camel’s back.

Does he have his own family as his attitude may change. To be fair I don’t sent photos to any of my sons uncles or vise versa. I do with my mum but that’s different.