You and your SO's families

[LovingAcrossTheAtlantic]

My SO hasn't met my family nor have I his (because we haven't met). But he talks to my dad through Facebook often. I will simply give my phone to my dad and they will talk. Its nice that my dad loves him.

As for the rest of my family, they are a bit unsupportive, to say the least.

His mother seems supportive from what I have heard that she has said, but I'm not 100% sure.

However, I don't foresee our parents meeting. Simply because I'm pretty sure me and my SO would have to visit my dad when I move over there, and I doubt his mother would come with us.

[Alsfia]

Our families met and spent Christmas together last year (here in Finland since his family is more mobile and better off), and they got along pretty well. My SO's family can be a bit of a handful at times though and add that to the stubbornness of my family you get quite a tiring holiday I think everyone had a great time though, and my brother and his girlfriend visited me while I was in England during the first half of the year and stayed with my SO's family. SO's siblings will probably come stay with us for a week or so at some point soon too, not at the same time though because 1) our flat is tiny and 2) they don't follow the same schedule with his sister being at uni and his brother being in 4th form. We also plan on bringing my youngest brother (9 this year) over with us for a week to England sometime next year as a Christmas/birthday present (his dream since age 3-4 has been to see Big Ben so win-win).

[Dziubka]

Our mums met about 1.5yrs into our relationship (the opportunity presented itself and obviously my mil was going to grab it). And then they met again when my mum visited us (I was living with my in-laws at the time) for Christmas some time later. That was also when my mum met my father in law, my SO's grandarents, uncles and cousins. And then everyone met again at our wedding.

It's always a bit difficult because they don't have a common language. My mil speaks tries and is very eager, but she speaks very little German. My mum doesn't know Polish at all. My brother probably thinks my SO's family is a bit odd (and they most likely think the same of him).
They all seem to like each other well enough, despite of the language and culture barrier. I do think my brother could make more of an effort to become closer with my SO, but he's not the emotional type and he barely shows his love for me, so I don't think I can expect that.

I don't know why they would have to be close. My mum and my mil are very different people. Even if they spoke the same language, they'd never become friends or anything. They don't have anything in common apart from us and they lead vastly different lives.

[RachelAnne]

My family and his have not met yet, and I'm not entirely sure when they will. Of course they want to meet each other, but it's difficult with work and what not and having the fly the entire family. lol. I think my parents mentioned taking a family vacation to NYC, and of course that would be the time they would finally meet.

[Lilly9886]

Uhmm, I guess I've been misunderstood. Is not about you and your SO's family or your family and your SO, I was actually talking about the two families

Just to let you know, I understood your question the first time.. I was starting to wonder if I got it wrong :P

My parents and my bf's parents met 1 year ago (3,5 years into our relationship) and it went better than expected... they all know a bit of English.. you could say they have around the same "level" - so I think that made it easier! The bf's parents visited us (we live in my country) and we saw my parents quite often at that time!

This year the came again and brought the grandfather which was awesome and everybody could meet!!

And next year we'll get married here so hopefully more of his family and relatives can come!!

[conejita_hada]

Our families have yet to meet but my parents are supposed to visit his family (in his country) in December! They won't be able to communicate exactly, as his family only know Spanish and mine only know English (and my mother's family, Italian). My SO does speak with my parents over FB messenger and they get along well through that. I suppose his family "met" my mother's family over video chat on Christmas Eve 2013, I stepped out of the main dining room to chat with him and everyone ended up coming over and passing my phone around shouting Merry Christmas and other things to him and his family as his laptop was being passed around his family. It was a bit crazy.

But, we're excited for our parents to meet! My parents will be going down directly after Christmas 2014 which will be about 1 year and 8 months into our relationship. We became engaged in April partly due to the knowledge that my parents would not travel to meet his parents until an engagement happened. We are planning the wedding for 2016 and it was necessary in both our family cultures for the parents to meet prior to marriage. Aside from that, both our families genuinely want to meet each other although I don't know if it'll be totally possible. It's very difficult to get visitor visas from his country to the US and I know only my parents are willing to travel to his country.

[Moscato]

I never thought about let my bf family member meet my family member before I think we are going to get marry...
(even I had my ex-bf and I were not long-distance for couple of years, I never though to let them met each others.)
Maybe culture difference? I don't know.

I met some of his family members and he also met my parent, aunt, uncle before.
Their mother language are English and most of my family members can speak English (not mother language but good enough for basic conversation).

[talim]

I never thought about my family meeting my SO's family either. I guess the first time when they'll meet will be on our wedding (And we don't plan getting married yet.)
My SO met my family and he likes them, especially my mother, who is very outgoing. My family also like him, especially my younger siblings (I have 14 yo sister and brothers who are 6 and 8) really love him
For me and his family, I only met his inner family circle, like his parents and siblings. I really like his father and his brother, but I have problems with his mother (as I wrote in my own thread) and his sister, well... It's just younger version of his mother

[Heavenly_Love12]

Our families have met a few times now. When we were first dating, we were CD and had a get together dinner one evening after we'd been dating 8 or 9 months. Since we've been back together and been LD, our families haven't seen one another again yet. I'm planning to go home at the end of Novemember so I'm hoping we can all get together then. My Mom is planning to talk to his about her ideas for decorating for our wedding and other wedding things.

Our families got along well previously and I suspect that won't change. They're both really open and friendly and there are many common ground topics. I assume that they will spend time together throughout the years since it will be easy for my SO and I to visit during holidays, being from the same hometown.

[TaraMarie]

Nope, they haven't met, and most likely won't.

[differentcountries]

I think our mothers would like each other if they did meet. They are both outgoing, down to earth and kind of bossy!

[GuineaPunk]

I doubt my parents will ever meet my boyfriend's mother. My Mum has absolutely no intention of ever stepping so much as a toe in Kenya, my whole family has been invited over there for Christmas (as the house he is building should be complete by then), but even if my family could afford it, not one of them are interested. I would say it is a shame, but to be honest it is more of a relief. I feel like the magic of visiting would be shattered by their numerous objections and they would offend everyone in his community. I'm rather fond of his Mum and most of his community, so it's probably for the best!

[JaneEmily]

Our mother's have each other on facebook but they don't really bother to communicate. They were due to meet earlier in June had me and my family been able to go to Holland, but circumstances stopped that. I think my parents feel a bit nervous of the thought of meeting his family as his family haven't really shown much support for us, whilst mine have made a huge effort to get to support and understand our LDR. As well as the fact that there might be a language barrier too, my family are English, his are Dutch - although 3 out of 4 of them speak at least decent English (en ik spreek een beetje Nederlands!)

Another thing is that both my parents are hugely insecure of their appearances, and our background (we're the kind of family who feel inferior as we're lower class than his family). So yeah, I think if our families were to meet it'd probably be a few years from now or when we get married.

I'm not too bothered if they don't get along tbh. I'm in a relationship with him, and to get along with him. Not for our parents to pretend to like each other (which I know is likely to happen). Their approval of each other doesn't affect me and my SO's relationship.

[AngelofFluffiness]

I REALLY want to manage to chat with my SO's family but language barriers have prevented that. Although he's offered to be the translating liaison, he hasn't introduced me yet. Meanwhile, he has gotten to meet my mom in Facebook chat...and only my mom (father passed away, grandparents passed away, and uncle is antisocial)
I hope I get to meet his family soon by some form. He always talk about them in a good light.
Due to pretty much the same compilation of issues, my SO's family and my family...have obviously not met.
So yup...

[thehappyhope]

I met his family before we became official, when I visited his hometown as a friend while on exchange, and they're wonderful people. The next time I came, after we made it official, I met the rest of the family, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and it went well. My German isn't perfect, but somehow it's enough to communicate what I need, mostly, and if not, my SO or his sister could always help translating.

He hasn't met my family yet, but maybe next year in March!

And...I really wonder what it will be like when our families meet. His parents barely speak English, and mine don't speak German (but my brother does). Plus, his mother is terrified of long distance flying, so if there's a scenario where they meet, it would be because my parents travel to Germany. There would be a lot of translating to do!