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AIBU?

To think that my word should be final

52 replies

phantomhairpuller · 23/09/2013 10:33

For example- if I (or DH) tell DS1 he cannot have any sweets until after a certain time, that is what should happen?!

At some point or other, all the grandparents have been guilty of something similar but have stopped once we've pulled them up on it. Except MIL.
I'm actually now starting to think that she is doing it deliberately to undermine our authority as parents.

Her and FIL stayed with us this weekend.
Saturday morning DS1 does his usual thing of asking for sweets before he's even had breakfast! I told him he could have some after he'd been to rugby (at 12pm) MIL heard me say this- she even repeated it to him.

Fast forward an hour. I come down from having a shower, she's giggling like a bloody schoolgirl and tells me she's given him a packet of sweets which he's already eaten Confused

Bugger me, I get in from putting the washing on the line another hour or so later to find DS hiding under the kitchen table with ANOTHER packet of sweets. Which she confessed to giving him.

This isn't the first time she's done it either.

A few weeks back, we stayed with them. DS1 was messing around with his breakfast so I told him that if he didn't eat it, he wouldn't have any treats during the day (we're trying to lay a few ground rules with food at the moment as he's getting to be a right PITA at mealtimes Wink)

I returned to the room a few minutes later to find his breakfast plate empty and him eating a chocolate biscuit.
MIL then makes a comment along the lines of 'granny likes marmite on toast too'- and starts giggling. FIL looked at me, rolled his eyes and said 'I told her not to'.

AIBU to be getting pissed off with this now? In my eyes, all she is doing is undermining me. Deliberate or not, I don't know.

MN jury- what do you think? Maybe I'm just being over sensitive?!

OP posts:
Bowlersarm · 23/09/2013 10:35

If she doesn't stay with you often I would turn a blind eye.

DancingLady · 23/09/2013 10:38

YANBU this would fuck me right off.

MIL is deliberately undermining you, making you out to be the 'bad guy' and ignoring your requests. I'd have a quiet word with her and let her know it's not on, and that if it continues she won't be welcome in your house.

If she wants to feed him sweets before breakfast at her's, fine. But your roof, your rules.

hamncheese · 23/09/2013 10:40

That's so annoying. Especially the giggling. I'd not have sweets and biscuits about when she comes then she can't do it. Or have one packet in the cupboard and then if she gives them to him you can explain later when he asks that he can't because granny took them all already ha. Seriously though, don't have them in and its more of a nonissue

phantomhairpuller · 23/09/2013 10:44

Hamncheese- she brings her own- seriously! Confused

I've tried talking to her, as has DH. It seems to be falling on deaf ears.

Nice to know I'm not being over sensitive tho.

OP posts:
Maggietess · 23/09/2013 10:44

Personally I think it's no big deal. That's what grannies and grandads are supposed to do, spoil their grandkids. If she lives with you then fine but when she's only visiting the occasional weekend let it go. I doubt she's doing it to undermine you, more to be in with her grandson. Probably hard for granny to connect with a growing, rugby playing boy, this is her being nice would be my guess. Just let him know he's lucky as granny gave it as a special treat but on a normal weekend it wouldn't have been an option

unforgettablememories · 23/09/2013 10:46

Thats what grandmas are for!

Dahlen · 23/09/2013 10:49

How often is this happening?

IF she's at your house every week or more often, you have to make a stand. If she visits less than that, I'd honestly turn a blind eye.

phantomhairpuller · 23/09/2013 10:50

Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate that she wants to be seen as 'fun, kind granny who hardly ever says no(!)' and as a previous poster has said, if she wants to spoil him at her house- fine. But doing it under our roof, when we have specifically said no is to me, a tad disrespectful.

OP posts:
hamncheese · 23/09/2013 10:54

I don't think its fair to say that's what grandmas are for. Fair enough if she was occasionally treating him but she's doing it over and over for no reason it seems. OP is his mum, she decides at the end of the day and its not as if she's saying he's never to get sweets ever.

I'd probably make a point of it and say to her you really aren't happy with his sugar intake when she comes, you know she likes to treat him but she will need to limit it to x. Or give her some healthier treats, his fave fruit or some not too bad biscuits, raisins etc or try and get her to buy something you don't mind him snacking on so she can still give him them?

Agree she's aware of what she's doing whether or not she sees it as a bad thing!

CrazyOldCatLady · 23/09/2013 10:56

Grandparents are allowed to spoil their grandchildren but what's actually happening here is that she's teaching him that it's funny to defy his parents.

I wouldn't be turning a blind eye.

superlambanana · 23/09/2013 10:59

What Crazy said. YANBU.

NatashaBee · 23/09/2013 11:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

thegreylady · 23/09/2013 11:10

I like to treat the dgc but if the parents say no then no it is. When dgs was 3 he asked if he could have two biscuits when we were both dead and having a cup of tea on my cloud(don't ask). He realised that he wasn't going to get two in this life as mum had said only one treat. Your mil is being deliberately stupid and risks her whole relationship with dgc by antagonising you.

EldritchCleavage · 23/09/2013 11:17

To be honest, I would just tell her off. It is undermining, and unhealthy. She can find other ways of being fun Grandma.

My grandmother did this in defiance of my mother, admittedly as part of a bigger, unhealthy dynamic. But it trapped us in a rather adult game that made us all quite uncomfortable-wanting sweets, guilty about being disloyal to our mother.

Squash it before it extends to other things.

lizzzyyliveson · 23/09/2013 11:25

I think you should tell your child that he is not allowed to eat sweets given by other adults and that includes granny. Tell her that if he does eat the sweets you will punish him. Next time she does this you can send him to his room and granny will not be the lovely, kind person she thinks she is, she will be the person that got him punished.

He should learn to refuse foods, actually, so that he is 'stranger-proofed'. Until he can resist he is not safe to go to the park on his own.

BlissfullyIgnorant · 23/09/2013 11:35

YANBU.
As a Mother, what I say goes...
DS needs meds not to be mixed with booze (due to impact on liver) not ever, even in cooking. Once, we went to PILs for Sunday lunch so we issued the strict ground rules on food, etc and MIL produced big fat thick sticky chocolate cake which I didn't want. Both DCs had a fat slice and DS offered me a taste. May as well have handed over a pint of rum. We had to remove the cake, much to everyone's disappointment; MIL insisted it didn't matter as "All the alcohol comes out in cooking" (it bloody doesn't, especially when it's mixed with the cream topping/filling or used to soak the cherries). I took no pleasure the following weekend when I told her that thanks to her 'little bit of cake' DS had an inflamed liver AND had to have more blood tests, and he freaks with needles. Another occasion she failed to tell DSiL that DS could not be exposed to certain viral infections so could she let us know if anything was going round at her nursery. She also failed to tell me about DNephew being 'under the weather'. Consequently, DS came down very ill for a week, 41.8 deg temp, viral rash, it was awful. She deliberately blocked the flow of information just to make sure she had us all there the same day for Christmas.
Mark my words - the sneaky sweets are the top of the slippery slope. Put a stop to it right now.

Rachel778 · 23/09/2013 11:38

YANBU

I would NEVER go over the head of a parent . . beit a friend, a family member or even when I am a Grandmother myself . . It is the Mothers (usually) who have day to day care and to override their wishes is a No No in my opinion .

I remember my Mum telling me that her own Mother had to speak to her Mum who would sneak in sweeties etc when my Mum and her siblings were younger .. It is your child, your rules and should be heeded.

magimedi · 23/09/2013 11:40

I do think that Grandparents are for spoiling children - but not with sweets. Especially if the parents have said no.

GhostsInSnow · 23/09/2013 11:42

YANBU at all. My MIL used to try it as well, I'd say no because she'd going to have her lunch etc in a minute. Next thing I'd hear her tell DD I was a 'wicked Mother' and she'd have the sweets anyway.

Eventually I took about as much of it as I could, picked up DD and walked out telling her that when she could treat me with some respect I'd be willing to come back. It worked.

Davsmum · 23/09/2013 11:48

YANBU
You should have a serious word with her and tell her she is totally out of order, especially laughing about encouraging her grandson to defy what you have told him!
She sounds like she is trying to be his friend and she may feel sorry for him if he cannot have what he wants - but that is no excuse.

Your DS is probably old enough to know that he shoul dnot accept what his Gran is giving him after you have said no - so I would have a word with him too,

Golferman · 23/09/2013 12:24

I agree with Maggietess, my job as grandad is to spoil them regardless of what their parents think. If I am looking after them it is my rules, end of.

FetchezLaVache · 23/09/2013 12:29

Yes Golferman, but the OP's MIL wasn't looking after the children. OP was.

The sweets are more or less a red herring IMO, it's about deliberately undermining OP's authority. I'd be inclined to make it clear that she won't be staying again any time soon if she doesn't back you up!

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hamncheese · 23/09/2013 13:07

To be honest the idea that when your child isn't under your direct care the person looking after them can do what the hell they like is ridiculous.

No one would allow a childminder or school to do things that a parent had expressly forbidden so I don't see why a grandparent thinks they have any rights to. They aren't the grandparents child and if the grandparent can't manage a simple rule like no sweets at certain times then they shouldn't have them.

If my DS grandparents did whatever they liked irrespective there is no way DS would be with them without my supervision. Its outrageous to think you can do what you like with someone else's children, especially in the full knowledge their parents would not be happy.

Pachacuti · 23/09/2013 13:10

She is deliberately undermining you, but what you do about it would depend on how often you see them. If it's once every 2-3 months or less then while it's annoying and I would need to vent about it it's probably not worth taking it up with her; if it's every week then I think it needs to be tackled.

edam · 23/09/2013 13:14

"No one would allow a childminder or school to do things that a parent had expressly forbidden" - hardly the same, is it? Grandparents aren't paid employees.

OP, I can see it's very irritating - she really is going beyond fond Granny into being a real pain in the bum. Suggest you have a serious chat.

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