If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them
(if you can't defeat your opponents, join forces with them)
Mrs. Kowalski had never been much of a sports fan - unlike her husband and two children. On weekends the others would take in either a baseball or a football game, while she stayed home alone. After a while the situation became a source of great annoyance to her. One weekend, to the utter amazement of her husband and children, she announced that she wanted to attend the football game with them. She thought, if you can't beat them, join them. Mrs. Kowalski realized that since she could not talk her family out of attending the games, she might as well join them in one of their favorite pastimes. By joining her family on the weekends she would alleviate her loneliness, and in time she might even come to like sports as much as her husband and children did.
defeat = 負かす
opponent = 敵、相手
talk someone out of = 〜しないよう人を説得する
alleviate = 軽減する、緩和する
in time = そのうちには