My father and brother hate each other and I have no idea what to do.
Their relationship was never good, but for the last four or five years it's deteriorated by so much, they don't fight, they just dismiss each other 99% of the time, until something sets my dad off and he just verbally tears him to shreds, they both tell me that their relationship is never going to be good and it's killing me because all I can think about is that my dad dies never having gained a connection with his son.
Mymum's great, she's amicable with both of them but her relationship with my dad isn't particularly amazing either, they fight a lot and I'm so worried it's going to escalate. Right now my brother's 19 and at university for most of the year, within three years he'll be away from the house completely and I doubt if he'll visit my parents, I just get worried we're never going to have a strong bond and without children my parents relationship is going to fall apart, and I think that'll kill my mum.
So is there any way I can persuade my brother and father to try to connect more? I feel like my dad dismisses him so readily because he was never into sport like my dad, doesn't help out that much etc and that those things serve as a barrier against all of my brother's good qualities, my dad's fairly judgemental like that. Help? Please?
I don't know if it's relevant but I'm 17, my brother's 19, my dad's 50 and my mum's 52.
