Bonding through gathering

[bbabyblue]

Before married, gathering was with our family, relatives and maybe sometimes distance relatives.
After married, gathering will be with pil, husband's side relatives, etc..
Even though we don't have anything in common to talk must also show face during lunch/ dinner gathering, etc... Worst is when it comes to CNY gathering, our pil will give a must go list of relatives' houses visting that we must go and expect us to stay there the whole day. Seriously, nowadays youngsters or sometimes even married couples don't really attend these kind of gathering cos majority of these gatherings are more for PG generation.
But old pple want us to attend these gathering so that we can have bonding with them or their own children/ extended cousins etc...
How many mummies out these like to attend these kind of gathering?
I myself, don't really like to go these kind of gathering as it will be another round of comparison and show off session ( e.g., which house my son/ daughter buy, my grandchildren can do this and that, etc...) I don't find that these kind of gathering helps with bonding, but old pple think otherwise..

 

[FeronnaC]

I think this is a norm nowadays. It is not easy to communicate with them but they want to have the family bonding which they think they will feel when everyone is around.

No parents would want to put their children through all the comparing and the stress related to it but it is even harder to reject the elders in the family... but looking at it from another point of view is that the kids will have time away from their phone and talk or even play with their relatives and younger cousins which is something to look forward to

 

[bbabyblue]

Maybe in the era of 80s-90s... gathering was fun. But in this era with technology so advance everyone owing HP/ iPad,etc... gathering be so boring... majority of the relatives/ cousins, etc... will just be looking at their mobile, etc...
Even gathering with my husband's own family having a meal will be like a drag, cos there will bound to have someone throughout the meal looking at her phone and my mil say want to make the 2 of us talk. How to talk when this person doesn't even have the basic table manners.?