I get the feeling that other family members think musical theater is somehow bad, maybe because it requires dancing with the opposite sex or it might be that my son had to "kiss the princess" in one of his shows...
His cousins don't talk to him at all and I sometimes wonder if they have been told not to because he plays video games and watches movies they think are evil....
Have they actually said any of those things to you or to your son? I think it is really unhealthy to make up dialogue in your head and decide that's what people have said to you. It isn't fair to other people and it doesn't promote connection with other people. Can you think of any other possible reasons why they don't ask your son about musical theater? Maybe they have no frame or reference and don't know what to say? Maybe they perceive that you are easily offended and they don't want to risk saying the wrong thing?
I wish I hadn't asked an uncle about what worked for his migraine headaches. He said he hadn't had any migraines since the people at church "prayed over him" ten years ago. We constantly hear family members saying things that make us wonder if they think they think the reason my son and I have migraines and my son has to wear a painful scoliosis brace is because we are more sinful than they are,
It doesn't seem unreasonable for a person to share their perception of what helped them particularly when you asked. We know there is a huge mind-body connection so even if like me you don't believe in god it isn't a huge leap to see how a person may have found that support from others helped them. If your son's migraines could be improved by some change in habits of the mind would you want that to happen?
On the second point, again, they did not tell you or your son that he was sinful and deserved to suffer right? That's something you decided to attribute to them. Do you think that's fair?
It sounds like it is your perception that you and your son tried hard to be polite. How would you feel if you read them saying "we wondered if she thought we are stupid sheep for believing because when we mentioned prayer she didn't mention prayer" "she didn't say it, but we were lead to think again she was probably saying our vacations were a gross indulgence because she didn't ask enough about them." Would that be fair?
