Stepmom reacts to 17-year-old's spa day rejection: '[I'm] refusing to recreate a girly family day with her'

You can try all you want, but you can't force someone to love you. 

Cats are the perfect example of this. If you pick up your cat and give them a squeeze, swing them around, and kiss their tiny kitty forehead 20 times, they might protest. They'll want to get away from you, and out come the claws! No matter how much you force affection onto your fuzzy friend, they won't reciprocate it until they feel like it. If you just leave them be for a while, eventually they might curl up in your lap as you watch a TV show, and before you know it, you have a cuddle bug who can't get enough of you. All you have to do to gain your pet's love is… nothing. Just hang out and be a chill person. 

This approach tends to work on people, too. If you're constantly forcing them to hang out with you and telling them how great it is to spend time with them, they might pull away. And that's especially true if it's an awkward family relationship, like the one between this 17-year-old and her stepmom. 

As u/Novel-Tune-868 tells it, her stepmom is not only clingy, but also majorly jealous of her relationship with her mom. It's causing friction between the two of them, and this teen's dad is having to get involved to try and fix things. Check out the full story below, as well as the helpful advice from commenters. 

Next, read about the 'insufferable, outspoken, [and] overbearing' cousin who is literally begging to go to a family wedding, with some scoffing that she has a "complete lack of self-awareness."