Grief is one of the most challenging emotions that any human has to suffer.

Not only do you have to face the pain of losing a loved one, you have to navigate life without them – and if the loss was unexpected, it can be a very emotionally confusing and physically troublesome time.

Of course, everyone grieves in their own way, and grief will manifest differently for each individual loss you experience thorough the course of your life.

In the case of the woman in this story, the loss of her daughter has left a big hole in her life, filled in part by the presence of her young grandson.

But when his father wants her to have a relationship with his new child, she feels more than a little uncomfortable.

Read on to find out how this grieving grandma navigated a tricky situation.

AITA for only wanting a relationship with my grandson and not his half sister?

I am a 55-year-old woman, and lost my daughter Amy to an accident two years ago.

Amy was married to Daniel, and they had my grandson Kai together, who is now 8.

Daniel met his current partner a year after Amy died, and they welcomed a baby in May of this year.

Ever since the birth of his daughter, Daniel has had an issue with us wanting time with just Kai.

Let’s see how this situation developed.

Daniel was upset when we didn’t go to his and his partner’s baby shower.

He was upset we bought nothing for his baby. And he was even more upset when we didn’t come to the hospital to meet his baby.

We were taking care Kai while Daniel’s partner was giving birth, and Kai wasn’t even allowed in per the rules of the hospital.

Daniel still expected us to take it in turns to visit his child, who he called our newest grandchild.

Uh-oh. Read on to see how the grandparents felt about this, and how that caused drama in the family.

My husband and Daniel had a conversation about that title, and the expectation that his new child was our grandchild.

He told my husband he didn’t see why Kai should be the only kid to get grandparents. He said we only had one child and one grandchild, so we should be happy to have even more grandchildren from him and his partner.

My husband told Daniel we would be nice to his daughter when we saw her, but Kai was still our only grandchild.

Then the problems intensified.

Daniel threatened to stop us seeing Kai afterward, and then he did some research and learned we would have a case for grandparents’ visitation if he did this.

So he has been attempting to force his partner and daughter into our lives more regularly, in an attempt to force us to treat them like a daughter or daughter in-law and granddaughter.

Last week, Kai told me he misses spending time at our house and having sleepovers. Even before Amy died we would have him overnights, etc.

Now we see Daniel’s whole family when we see Kai, and mostly attempts to make us focus only on Daniel’s daughter.

Let’s find out how this grandma tried to care for Kai and his wishes.

I asked Daniel to consider a sleepover for Kai soon, and he asked me why I wasn’t making the offer for his daughter.

I told him Kai is my grandson and I care very much about maintaining a good relationship with him.

Daniel asked me if I only wanted a relationship with Kai and not his daughter.

I said yes. I told Daniel that he needs to understand that Kai is Amy’s, and she was our only child and we already lost her.

But Daniel’s response was totally unexpected.

He told me it wasn’t fair, and he released a lot of frustration which I sat and listened to.

Then he told me fine, I won, Kai wants to be with us without the rest of them anyway, so we win.

He then told me he hoped I could live with myself when his daughter and any future children felt bad because they weren’t good enough in our eyes to be our grandchildren too.

Read on to find out how the grandma responded to this blatant attempt at guilt-tripping.

I felt he was unfair, but he made himself perfectly clear that he felt like we were awful people.

He did bring Kai for a sleepover all weekend, which Kai loved.

And he spent the day at our house yesterday too, but again Daniel let it be known he felt my husband and I were not good people.

AITA?

It’s clear that if Daniel ever did have emotional maturity, it has escaped him in his grief for his wife, which he likely hasn’t got over.

It’s nice that he still considers himself part of his late wife’s family, but he needs to understand that comes with boundaries, and his in-laws can’t be expected to dote on his new partner and their child as if they were their own.

He has no empathy for what the grandparents have lost, and simply trying to replace it is causing hurt to resonate through this family.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit thought about this.

This person thought that while Daniel’s behavior was wrong, it shows how much he felt part of the family and is taking it hard that his family connections could dwindle.

And others acknowledged that they are clearly all dealing with grief differently.

But some Redditors were suspicious about Daniel’s real motives.

And others worried that without the grandparents’ help, Kai’s mother would be sidelined, leaving the child in a confusing state of grief.

This Redditor even pointed out how awesome it is to have willing grandparents to care for the older child over weekends while the baby is growing.

They all need time to grieve.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.