So the person is created so that even pleasant events can serve as a bone of contention for him. With whom to celebrate Christmas, with my parents or with yours? Annually such a question arises in many families and sometimes causes real storms of feelings and a storm of “showdowns”. According to statistics, Christmas in Sweden is the most scandalous holiday, certainly, from this point of view alone, of the year. These are the results of the survey, carried out by the magazine “We, parents”, in which 1,155 parents participated, of whom only 157 were men.

The responses of the respondents, or more precisely of the female respondents, show that the greatest complication arises in relations with the husband’s parents. A quarter of the women who filled out the questionnaire assume that it is very difficult to get along with their relatives, half of them – that the mother-in-law could help a little more, and a third wish that a grandmother and grandfather in a line of husband would show the greatest interest in his grandchildren. It is possible, for this very reason most women say that their families spend more free time, that is, with their parents, not with the husband’s parents.

Since Christmas invariably awakens a child in each person, waiting for miracles and gifts, most parents of small children assume that their partners, husband or wife -depending on the sex of the interviewee- behave at their parents’ house like absolute children. . . What irritates the most is the fact that the grandmothers and grandfathers of both lines give their grandchildren too many gifts and too many sweets. Every fifth considers that the elderly interfere in the education process and break the established rules.

Although, in general, most families with small children are satisfied with their mother-in-law and father-in-law. Four in ten women and one in two men say that older generations spend as much time with their children as they want, and every fifth woman and fourth man find this time much more than they expected.