My father has some unfortunate ways of expressing himself and he doesn't take correction well. My sister and I are seeing a lot of frustratingly familiar patterns with how he talks to our kids.
I called him out on a way he was talking to one of the kids the other day - doing a nasally voiced impression - and he walked off in a huff. He seems to think he's just being funny and he doesn't receive criticism, just complains that "he can't do anything right." He'll forget and do it again.
For me, my dad helped program a lot of negative self talk. I don't want that for the kids. Is me pushing back likely to impact the way they receive his crap? Or is it just more likely to draw attention to it?
My dad isn't a bad guy and the kids love him, I'm not interested in keeping them away.