Constantly feel like I can’t do anything right

So I am the middle child in my family and has always felt the need to be more independent than both my sisters but I feel as though this has lead to me being the black sheep in my family and I can’t do anything right. And these are the two most recent examples.

Firstly it is my dads birthday in a few weeks and my mum asked if I could book them a hotel using my email address so it is a surprise for my dad (they have a shared email account) so I said yes no problem. My mum comes round and shows me which hotel she wants so I put all the information in for her and then the webpage says about needing the credit card that they will be using to pay for the room once they are at the hotel. I ask my mum for her credit card and says she hasn’t got it so I say I can’t finish the booking without it. At which point my mum says I never do anything to help her and storms off. I was pretty shocked by this as I couldn’t book it using my credit card as that would mean I then wouldn’t have my card for a week whilst they’re away. I rang my mum a few hours later after I’d calmed down and she said “it’s sorted now as your sister wanted to help me instead” I know when to choose my battles so I just left it at that.

And another example from a few weeks ago was my mum asked me to take her to the car garage to pick her car up and I again said yes no problem. So I picked my mum up, spoke to her for about 2 minutes and then the rest of the way which was a 30 minute journey she rang my sister and spoke to her on the phone whilst I was just sat there. Now I could have let this slide if this was a one off but it isn’t, there are a lot of times I will drive my mum somewhere and every time I do she rings either of my sisters and talks to them whilst I am driving her which I find incredibly rude. There have been numerous times over the years though when I have rung my mum and she’s said “I’m with your sister I will ring you back later” but when it’s the other way around she never says that to my sisters when she’s with me.

What should I do?

Reply 1

Admit-One

Universities Forum Helper

Nothing much you can do. Just because they’re family doesn’t mean they’ll treat you well or be empathetic. I’d keep your head down and look forward to moving out ASAP.