The saying goes that when you marry someone, you marry their whole family. While you don’t live with the whole family (I hope!), you will have to interact with them at family gatherings and holidays. If you can’t handle your partner’s family, it might be time to rethink the relationship before it gets too serious.

In this story, one young woman is rethinking her relationship with her boyfriend because of her boyfriend’s dad’s behavior at a family gathering and because of her boyfriend’s response to this behavior. Her boyfriend has since apologized, but an apology doesn’t change what the dad did or how he feels about her.

Now, she’s wondering if she’s overreacting or if she should really walk away from a 2-year relationship because of her boyfriend’s dad. Let’s read the whole story.

AIO for wanting to dump my bf because his dad screamed at me and threw a glass?

So this happened a couple of nights ago and I’m still shook.

My boyfriend (23M) and I (21F) have been dating for nearly two years.

His relatives have always been… unpredictable. Sometimes nice, sometimes extremely hostile.

I generally steer clear of them because they’re volatile, but it was his sister’s graduation dinner and he begged me to join him.

Her boyfriend’s dad seems to be the problem.

When I inquired if his parents were okay with me being there, he said yes that they were “fine” and just wanted to make peace.

I reluctantly agreed.

We get there and things seem fine at first, but halfway through dinner his dad starts making smart-alec comments about how I’m “distracting” his son from his career.

I attempted to look the other way, but he persisted. And finally, when I quietly said that I didn’t appreciate the comments, he snapped.

This would be scary.

He got up, started screaming at me in front of everyone, and threw a glass across the room it shattered against the wall not far from where I was sitting.

I was terrified.

I started to get up, but my boyfriend begged me to “stay and not make a scene.”

I told him I was already humiliated and scared, but he just sat there like a deer in the headlights while his family acted like this was normal.

I wound up leaving anyway, in tears.

Her boyfriend apologized, but an apology might not be good enough.

It’s been a couple of days and my boyfriend has apologized, saying that he should’ve stood up for me. He also confessed that his dad has physically lashed out at him and on other occasions, at his siblings too so I guess “that’s just how he is.”

But it’s not the way that I am, and I don’t want to start to be that way in my life.

I love my boyfriend, but I’ll be honest, I don’t think it’s enough here. I hit a wall and this was it.

Am I overreacting by wanting to leave?

Her boyfriend’s dad is the one who needs to apologize. I don’t blame her for not wanting to be part of that drama. If she stays with her boyfriend and if they one day get married, that will be her life, dealing with his crazy family. That said, if she dumps him, the dad gets his way. She’ll no longer be “distracting” his son.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman’s family who is trying to stop her from moving away for her husband’s job.

Let’s see what Reddit has to say about this situation.

Here’s a vote for breaking up.

Another person was in a similar situation, but actually even worse.

Here’s another vote for breaking up.

Everyone thinks she should leave him.

As mentioned in one comment, sometimes the son takes after the father. Even if she can try to deal with and avoid his crazy family, her boyfriend might end up acting like his dad. She definitely doesn’t want to sign up for that!

The only way I think she should consider staying with him is if her boyfriend called out his dad on his behavior and went no contact with him. Then, he’d be showing that he doesn’t approve, and she wouldn’t have to deal with the crazy dad ever again.

I doubt that he’ll do that. He seems too used to his father’s anger. This is the perfect opportunity to walk away and save herself from the drama.