In a heartfelt plea for help, a grandmother has taken to the online community seeking advice on how to cope with the heartbreaking situation of feeling left out by her grandchildren.

The distraught grandmother shared her story, revealing that her two grandsons, aged 5 and 3, seem to favour the “other grandparents” during joint gatherings.

“We have two grandsons, 5 and 3. The 5-year-old started completely ignoring my husband and I when we are together with his other grandparents. He insists on sitting next to, on the lap of mostly, the other grandma and acting as if we are not there. Since the 3-year-old emulates everything the 5-year-old does, he is now doing the same,” she wrote in a plea for advice.

“He wouldn’t even sit in the empty chair next to us last night and ate his whole meal in the other grandpa’s lap. We do have a good relationship with both when we see them on their own, but we are hurt and confused about why this is consistently happening in a larger group.”

The desperate grandmother also highlighted the challenging dynamics, saying, “The other grandma is obviously quite proud of this behavior which doesn’t help. We have attempted to overlook this in hopes it will pass but it has become very uncomfortable for us and we no longer feel like putting ourselves in this position. Has anyone ever run into this situation.”

Messages of support flooded in from sympathetic grandparents, offering valuable advice to navigate this delicate family situation.

One commenter suggested, “Unless it is an essential occasion that you are all together with the grandchildren, I would decline mutual invites for the moment, that way you can enjoy your time with them separately and not get stressed by it.”

Others reassured the distressed grandmother that the young children likely don’t harbor ill intentions. “They are so young, they are not doing it on purpose to hurt you. Expectations are the root of all evil. Give it time and space, they will interact with you again.”

Amidst the flood of advice, another contributor urged a practical approach: “Stop the double meetings. It’s not a competition. If you go at separate times, then the kids get the best of both worlds, and you won’t see what happens to get upset about.”