LogFAQs > #952290636

We were at my mom's boyfriend's house the other day and he is very conservative in his politics, while I've always been more left leaning. My mom has apparently become more conservative in her views in the time she has been with him. Because of this, all three of us have sometimes argued pretty intensely over some things. We always stay respectful with eachother, but we can usually get pretty loud. All three of us are able to switch it off and talk about other things within a moment. My mom's boyfriend and I even started playing a game of chess and he offered me another drink nonchalantly in the middle of an argument. Part of me likes being able to have these debates with them knowing that we will still keep a healthy respect for eachother in the relationship. My girlfriend however completely shuts down. She doesn't like when people raise their voices because in her childhood it had always meant that bad things were going to happen. It's hard for her to not make those same associations with the arguments I have with my mom and her boyfriend. I feel bad because this most recent time, she even started crying once we got home because it was too much for her. I think I just need to make more of an effort to keep the politics out of the conversation when she's there with me. Does anyone else have similar problems when dealing with any kind of conflict?