Is Christmas the best time to bring your partner home to meet the family?
Christmas time is family time. It’s probably also the time when you might be thinking about bringing your significant other to the Christmas lunch to meet your eager mother, strict father, annoying siblings and crazy aunts and uncles. But you don’t want to get everybody’s hopes up by bringing home someone who won’t make it past Valentine ’s Day come next year, right?
Ask yourself these questions about your relationship before taking that next scary step
Why do you want to introduce him?
The worst mistake you can make is introducing your boyfriend to your parents in the hope that he might want to do the same or even as a gesture to encourage him to propose or commit. This is not the way to go. The reasons behind such a bold move should be genuine and mutual, with both of you feeling comfortable enough about the relationship to take it to a more personal level than it already is.
How do you act around each other’s friends?
Do you both appreciate and get along with each other’s friends? Are you comfortable enough to be around his/her friends and still not feel the need to be glued to the hip? Then this could be an indicator that meeting the family could be a pleasant experience. Also, your closest friends should know you on more-or-less the same level as your family, therefore, if they seem to like and respect your partner, then it might be a good sign.
How do the two of you fight?
How you fight is an important factor to take into consideration. Do your arguments always end up with one of you feeling belittled and ashamed? How you fight says a lot about the maturity of the relationship and can also speak to the trust and levels of respect between you. You should be able to keep communication open and honest but still respectful at all times.
How long have you been dating?
The answer to this question is one which is best applied on a case-by-case basis. You need to let your intuition guide you. If your experiences and growth within the relationship have increased with the number of days that you have been together and you know for sure that you are not being blinded by the “honeymoon stage”, then you might just have been dating for long enough.
Have you mentioned his/her name to your parents?
Have you, at the very least, mentioned your partner’s name, even in passing, to your parents? If your parents know that you have someone in your life and know a few facts about them, it makes it easier for you to bring them home because they’ll have an idea of what to expect, allowing you to almost predict their behaviour and prepare your partner for what’s to come.
