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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Argument with DH regarding MIL...

69 replies

PeppermintLatte · 06/08/2012 18:47

DH went balistic at me earlier today regarding MIL seeing our DD. i will apologise in advance if i post some boring facts but i don't want to drip feed (hate it when posters do that)

MIL is a lovely lady, no problems of not getting on etc.. we live in a village and she lives about a 20 minute drive from us. she is retired, doesn't have many hobbies or interests, she isn't alone, she lives with FIL and BIL and his wife (they have no kids and are moving out in october) she sees her sisters and brothers regularly, but doesn't really have friends. i want to let you know as well incase you feel it's relevant that she is unwell, she has problems with her heart and although it's under control at the moment, DH obviously worries that she will probably not get to a ripe old age.

she see's DD about once a week, sometimes more if we go for dinner at her house or she comes to ours. without fail everytime she wants to see DD she will ring me on the day and make me feel awkward if i say we have plans. she NEVER rings a day or two in advance, DH tells me not to ask her too ring in advance as she is set in her ways and won't listen, 70% of the time i juggle things around and let her take her for the day. she done this on friday, DD and i had plans but i let her take her as i don't really like saying no to her, i feel a bit mean.

anyway, DH rang her before, asked how she was etc... she said she was going to ring us in the moring as she wants to take DD out again for the day as she'll be stuck in bored otherwise (MIL, not DD) i have plans with DD again, we are going shopping and meeting my dad (he works away and is back for a week after being away working for a month) so i said no. once he'd got off the phone to her started moaning at me, saying she lights his mother's life up and i'd only said no because i was jealous that my own mum can't see much of our DD (my mother works every hour god sends, she is on a very low income, lives alone and can barely afford to pay her bills) this is partly true, it does piss me off that my mum can't see my DD more, it pisses my mum off too, but such as life.

i took offense and said i was sick of changing my plans, his mum should ring in advance. DH said he thought it was unfair that i got to make the decision that his mother couldn't take DD tomorrow, that his mum has rights etc... i said she's had her turn of being mum and that i had the final say.

anyway, i won't bore you with anymore of it but i am really pissed off at him, but i'm thinking am i out of order? she isn't in the best of health after all. if the phone rings in the morning i dread it if i have plans, because 9 out of 10 times it's MIL wanting DD. i know i'm lucky that she wants her, but my DD is well out of terrible toddler years and is a joy to be with. i work 2, sometimes 3 days a week so don't want to hand her over whenever MIL clicks her fingers. AIBU?

OP posts:
ENormaSnob · 06/08/2012 19:25

Yanbu

And I do think you get the final say when it's your plans being fucked about.

ArtexMonkey · 06/08/2012 19:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HecateHarshPants · 06/08/2012 19:29

Yes. You get the final say if it's your plans being fucked about.

But you don't get the final say because you're the mother.

Which is how I read it.

I did not at any point suggest she shouldn't have the final say about her plans!

I'm wrong, I'm wrong, I'm Queen Wrong of Wrongville Grin she wasn't saying she gets the final say because she's the child's mother, she was saying she gets the final say because it's her plans.

ArtexMonkey · 06/08/2012 19:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ArtexMonkey · 06/08/2012 19:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HecateHarshPants · 06/08/2012 19:32

Ah yes, mum v grandma - no contest! Grin

ladymariner · 06/08/2012 19:33

YADNBU to not want your p,ans being messed about with, like somebody else said, just politely say no and offer her another day to have dd.

Maybe the dh has been reading mumsnet on the quiet and seen all the anti-mil threads????????

WelshMaenad · 06/08/2012 19:33

Agree with so much said above. I would also be nipping this in the bud for your Dd's sake. It's not healthy for her to feel that she's the only thing that can light up her her grandma's life. As she gets older and starts to make her own decisions about how to spend her time, is the pressure going to transfer to her to be 'lighting up grandma's life' at every conceivable opportunity? Stifling, and too much pressure for a child.

It is reasonable that your MIL gets to spend SOME time with her grandchild, but not to the exclusion of all else and all others or guilt trips.

Lambzig · 06/08/2012 19:36

So, if I have this right, you work 2-3 days a week and presumably dont get to see so much of your DD when you are working. Out of the 2-3 days you get with her each week, your MIL wants one of those to take her out for the day, not including you, so you are on your own and also wants to dictate at short notice when that is? If I have that right OP, you have been more than reasonable. I work 3 days per week and my 2 days with DD are very very precious to me (obviously we see friends/relatives, but she does spend those days with me.

YANBU and DH cannot dictate what you do when he is not there. How annoying.

margarethamilton · 06/08/2012 19:36

YANBU. I don't like it when GC are used to fill a gap in an otherwise bored GPs life. I haven't had DD yet (any day now!) but I fear this with my MiL and step FiL. Since retiring, they lead a very mundane existence. They live 2 hours away but I fear they'll be down here to see us all the time for something to do. They go to funerals of people they don't know just to break the week up Confused.

It's just courteous to make plans in advance. Could you call her with your diary open and give her suggestions of time you have free rather than letting her take the lead?

MrsBaggins · 06/08/2012 19:37

"Im Queen Wrong of Wrongville" GrinGrinGrin

PeppermintLatte · 06/08/2012 19:37

Hecate- i know what you meant, no worries!

My dad would not mind at all if i re-arranged, and MIL wasn't aware of DD having previous plans to see him, but still...

I like to answer the phone in the morning as sometimes it's my mum calling after her night shift to say hi to my DD. I could always 1471 it!

OP posts:
HecateHarshPants · 06/08/2012 19:39

phew! good. Was actually just trying to helpfully warn of possible future rows Grin sorry if I totally misread what it was you were saying

MrsBaggins · 06/08/2012 19:39

I have a phone with a display Wink - very useful!

WelshMaenad · 06/08/2012 19:39

Caller display!!! My inlaws have their own ringtone. It sounds like a fire alarm going off so I don't accidentally answer it...

messyisthenewtidy · 06/08/2012 19:42

YANBU. Why don't you invite her along to meeting with DF? She'll probably say no anyway and you'll feel better at having tried to include her.

As for the future, why don't you call her say a week in advance and ask her if she could have DD on a certain day as you are busy all other days?

MrsBaggins · 06/08/2012 19:44

Welsh Grin

CaseyShraeger · 06/08/2012 19:48

Get caller display. It will transform your life...

myBOYSareBONKERS · 06/08/2012 19:53

Answer phone and play the message back. Then you can make your decision on what you want to do without feeling pressurised.

shorttermnamechange · 06/08/2012 19:54

If your husband is going to behave like a twat, then I would be inclined to say that for every day MIL sees dd, you will ensure that dd sees your parents for exactly the same amount of time. MIl will be prohibited from seeing dd until your own parents have 'caught up' on time spent. Because you wouldn't want to be anything other than scrupulously fair!

This is childish, but makes the point, I think.

Your mistake was in indulging this ridiculousness in the first place and you have to nip it in the bud. With both your MIL and your husband.

I think you do get final say, if it is your plans being rearranged. Neither your husband nor your MIl has any respect for you or your time. That being the case, there is no need for you to respect what they want.

shorttermnamechange · 06/08/2012 19:56

Surely the person looking after the child on the given day, be it mum or dad, gets final say.

Certainly granny doesn't. Like Op says, she's had her chance to parent.

PeppermintLatte · 06/08/2012 19:56

Welsh hahahaha!!!!!!

the thing is, i really don't feel comfortable ringing MIL once a week and saying "i'm busy on day x,y,z but you can have DD on such a day" sometimes i don't make plans until the night before. if MIL rang me say on a sunday and said "what days are you free?" then that would be fair enough, if i had plans on all my days i don't work, then i would arrange to go to hers with DD for lunch etc..

DH is self employed and doesn't have much to do tomorrow apparantly, so when he rang MIL and she said she was going to ring in the morning to ask for DD, he said "that's fine, we'll go for lunch with DD" why can't he just take his mother for lunch? why do i have to cancel my plans? hope i haven't drip fed in the OP.

OP posts:
ssd · 06/08/2012 20:00

...or an answer machine!

op how old is your dd, surely she is beginning to object to having days with her mum/friends cancelled and being stuck all day with old granny?

PeppermintLatte · 06/08/2012 20:08

ssd she enjoys her time with MIL, as MIL takes her to the park, or to visit relatives, it doesn't seem to bother DD.

i guess i think how i'd feel if i have a son and i was in her shoes, or if my DD has kids. but hand on heart, i'd arrange in advance and understand that they had lives of their own! as long as i got to see my child and grandkids on a fairly regular basis, i would be happy.

OP posts:
FannyMcNee · 06/08/2012 21:18

Blimey OP, you can't really make any plans with anyone without adding a caveat: "OK, see you then - unless MIL decides she wants to see her..." That's not normal, is it?

YANBU and - whilst your DH is no doubt worried for MIL's health - she shouldn't take precedence over everyone else. What if you've made plans with DD that she's really excited about, only to be disappointed?

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