I have relatives in the Jehovah's Witness religion still, and in-laws. Because my spouse and me were never officially disfellowshipped, they have a hard time with how to shun us. Basically, they don't. Every once in a while they make a new friend in their congregation and are convinced that shunning us is the best solution. About the time my son was born, this happened with my in-laws. They actually called us and asked, "Can we pick up our grandson, and take him to dinner?" To which we said, "why don't we all go?" They paused and said, "We really should not have any social connect with former Witnesses." Well we said, "no." Time went on and we forbid them to see our son, and they missed out on three months of seeing him grow. They even came by once and asked to see him, I asked them to leave and never return. They cried and another week went by, and they called and asked us all out to dinner as a family and it was business as usual from that point on. My spouse and I do not play around, in fact, we are quite mean in our handling of family members attempting to shun. You know what though, it works. For us at least it works and no one even tries it anymore. In fact, my in-laws have even come to Thanksgiving Dinner, Birthday parties and other "no no" events, to keep on our good side. All I can say, "not on my watch!" will these type of games of "shunning" happen in family. Former friends, who cares, I don't even remember most now ... been ten years. Family, another subject all together and I feel fortunate that it has never been a huge issue.
Anyone else ever get the, "I want to see your children, but shun you!" speech or comment?