Before the first Friday lunch

A young couple in Riyadh offer, one generous evening, to host the whole family for lunch the following Friday.

It goes well. Somebody says they should do it again. Then it is every Friday, then it is expected, then an aunt plans her week around it and the cousins stop making other plans. Two years later the couple are exhausted, the kitchen is never quite clean, and every weekend has a fixed shape they never chose.

Now stopping feels urgent, and it is. But there is no gentle way out. Whatever they say will be heard as a statement about the family, not about the lunch. Something that began as a gift has become a duty, and duties are very hard to put down without someone getting hurt.

The mistake was not the generosity. It was agreeing to something that, once it was moving, nobody could slow down.

Many of the hardest exits look like this. A monthly favour for a friend. A group gift that every birthday now requires. A role in the family that grew a little each year until it could not be handed back.

The question worth asking at the start is not whether this is a good idea. It is whether, if it turns out badly, it can be stopped. If the honest answer is no, it is better not to begin, however kind the impulse.