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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think this is really underhand of MIL?

501 replies

Realitea · 16/04/2017 09:46

Currently staying with IL's for a few days. Mil wants dc to stay without the rest of us for a bit longer to spend some time together. Dh told her yesterday it's up to dc and we were planning on asking them later today. Mil said she would not put any pressure on them at all.
This morning I heard mil asking dc herself and when they said they'd rather go home she kept quietly talking them into it until they decided they will stay. Whispering in the ear, bribing.. I am really angry about this! Who do I speak to? Dc/mil or dh? Or do I just let it go?

OP posts:
DrasticAction · 17/04/2017 20:15

Visiting with us there is now not good enough, it has to be on her terms, i.e. Without us there. Why is that?
Yep same here - has to be in her miserable house, seeing them isn't seeing them if she has to come to us.

RE courts I looked into this a while ago and courts also have to look at the whole family so if there is a strong chance the family unit would break down due to this - then they would not award GP time with the dc. The unit comes first, as it should.

Benedikte2 · 17/04/2017 20:17

OP avoid being pushed into decisions re DC 's co bract with GM. Put on the spot it's much harder to say "no". Easier to come back later with good reasons.
Talk to your DC and tell them that you know it is sometimes difficult to say no to GM and that you won't be sending them back to stay again unless they come to you and say they feel ready to stay with her. I can almost guarantee it will be quite some time (if ever) that they will volunteer for this. So if GM asks it's "no" and if DC independently request a visit it's "I'll ask GM if it suits her".
That way you can be sure there is no manipulation.

Daydream007 · 17/04/2017 20:22

She is controlling and out of order for sneakily bribing and whispering to your DC to change their minds. Make sure they don't stay with her. How dare she.

FairytalesAreBullshit · 17/04/2017 20:38

It's a weird one as PIL live a distance away, even though we were shipped out at as children, there's been this weird saying, 'you enjoyed, you look after!' Which is bizarre as both DC were from fertility to and I can't recall it being a particularly amazing point in my life, as after so many losses, there was always the fear, what if.

I would love MIL to be true to her word and have DC for a week. So we could have our first week off in 13/14 years. Of course we love DS & DD, but I also attribute our current state of relationship, down to never really getting any free time to do anything.

Gone are the days when you'd slip a teenager £5 to watch your DC, as she was trust worthy, because she wore glasses or had braces. Grin

So to me it's not a tragedy being separated from DC's, it would be nice to do things we did before DC came on the scene.

Really DH and yourself need to be singing from the same hymn sheet in advance. I can see DH's point of you lingering in hesitation, wanting to get a move on. It did appear that you were hoping DC would have a change of heart.

Maybe I'm missing something, but you do need quality time together, whilst no one loves being away from DC, it's also important to have time with your DH together. It did read like you were over reacting with all the tears.

So in future, before you go to MIL or your own parents, agree on any offers for childcare, then you can at least show a United front.

FairytalesAreBullshit · 17/04/2017 20:47

I honestly think this could have a big bearing on your marriage. The blood is thicker than water argument always seems to win from experience and from what I've. He won't want to alienate things with his family, so you'll be the bad guy who wants it all her own way.

You need to think how this is going to pan out.

Realitea · 17/04/2017 20:51

Things have got a lot worse sadly. Dh erupted at me this evening. He had spoken to mil who flatly denied saying anything to persuade dcs. So therefore I'm a liar. The fact I didn't speak to the dcs last night on the phone is unforgivable and he says I'm the most disgusting mother for that. The reason was because I was crying so much and I didn't want them to know, as it would upset them.
He is using this as something 'unforgivable' to hold against me.
He's taken off his wedding ring and I had to get a friend involved to calm down the situation. H is so full of hatred for me I think he will never see his mother for who she is.

OP posts:
Advicewouldbelovelyta · 17/04/2017 20:55

Wow what a dick!

MissesBloom · 17/04/2017 20:56

Did dh ring the kids then?? Or does that responsibility lie only at your door?

That's such a shitty thing to say as you were already upset over leaving them there so he's now using this to make you feel bad. He is every bit as manipulative as his mother.

Be very careful op. Pay no mind to him taking his ring off. He and his mother are throwing their toys out of their pram and bullying you.

What did your friend do when you got them involved?

Realitea · 17/04/2017 21:01

The friend just spoke to both of us and tried to calm it down. H was getting more and more insulting and dragging up a lot of things from the past so I just quietly said 'we have children upstairs. They're the most important thing to me so I'm going to make sure they're ok for the rest of the night.'
It's a small house so it's quite hard to avoid each other but I'm trying my best.

OP posts:
AnnieAnoniMouse · 17/04/2017 21:01

That would be the end of it for me.

Tell him to go & live with his Mummy.

Wanker.

MissesBloom · 17/04/2017 21:03

So sorry op Flowers he sounds like an asshole.

Definitely keep your distance until he's calmed down but I don't think I could take his behaviour it seems like a betrayal to me.

This woman made you out to be a liar and he's backed her up. That's Just not ok

Astro55 · 17/04/2017 21:04

I'd taken my rings off as well !

Did he phone them?

He was annoyed because he had to spend the day fetching his kids - no doubt a long tiring journey on a BH Monday!

He has to balme someone when he ahould take responsibility for his actions

Of coarse MIL denied it! She wouldn't admit to it! He should've aske the kids in the car!

Arse

BerylStreep · 17/04/2017 21:05

It sounds like your DH is feeling really threatened to have erupted at you like that.

I'm not quite sure why he discussed this with his mother (well, I suspect it is to do with the fact that he is still under her control, but he shouldn't have done). It sounds like your MIL has had a go about you to him, and he is now in a state of divided loyalties - and he is choosing his default position.

His assertion that you not phoning the DC last night being 'unforgivable' is nonsense of course, but it highlights that he is lashing out with anger towards you.

It sounds like his Mum is upping the power play. It also sounds like all of you have got caught up in a dynamic of high drama.

My suggestion? Step back. Disengage, and don't discuss it any further with your DH or your MIL at all for the foreseeable future. Let the dust settle, then you can start thinking more clearly about what you want in the longer-term. Emotions are too high at the moment to discuss this sensibly.

Slightlyperturbedowlagain · 17/04/2017 21:06

When people start bandying around 'unforgivable' it sounds like they are looking for a reason to end a relationship. Do you think that's what he's trying to do? It's a pretty extreme response to a missed phone call, especially if (in his view) they were perfectly happy at his mother's.

Crapuccino · 17/04/2017 21:08

I don't remotely condone your DH's behaviour but I can see how it is much harder for him to stand up to his mother than to you, so you are, in this whole affair, a much easier target to blow up at. It's a natural consequence of someone who is feeling pressured and doesn't dare face down his own mother.

Easy to say, but try and get some rest, OP. After a night of sleep, in the morning he might have cooled off. Probably not, tbf, but you will have the benefit of a fresh head to try to figure out the way forward. It might be that this is time for more counselling, a trial separation, or even the first stages of realising that this three-in-a-bed relationship is just not going to work. Whatever the case, I hope you find the way through it that works best for your DC.

YNK · 17/04/2017 21:08

Well the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
What an obnoxious git.
He has shown you where his loyalty lies now.
This would be a dealbreaker for me. Like his mother he doesn't give two hoots for the upset caused and he thinks he can heap a bit more on top!
What a cunt!

fleur34 · 17/04/2017 21:09

So sorry to read your latest update.

I hope that things are calmer tomorrow and you can have a rational discussion with your husband about him and his mum and where you go from here to find a way forward.

He sounds well and truly conditioned to side with her. I'm sorry. I know how hard that is.

Xx

Crapuccino · 17/04/2017 21:09

Also what slightly says. The inconsistency of his position suggests that he is doing an awful lot of cognitive work to make his DM's behaviour "okay", and for that to happen, someone has to be to blame for it all, so he has got to make yours not okay. Pretty shit behaviour.

aaaaargghhhhelpme · 17/04/2017 21:12

So sorry you're going through this op.

Sorry he sounds like he's completely under her spell. It's easy for me to say - I wouldn't put up with this - but then my DH hasn't been conditioned all his life to treat his mum like a queen.

I agree with pp. try and get some rest for tonight. Gather yourself for proper adult conversation tomorrow. Maybe try and write down in point form everything you want to get across.

But I would start with - if you don't believe me, I don't see how this marriage can work.

Flowers
BerylStreep · 17/04/2017 21:20

Have you ever involved friends in domestic arguments before?

It seems like a really odd thing to do to - to get a friend to mediate in a domestic argument.

BigGrannyPants · 17/04/2017 21:20

OP your H should never speak to you that way, the fact he is able to be so vile and nasty gives pause for thought... hope you don't mind me asking OP but a part from MIL issues, is it a happy marriage? He sounds like an arsehole. My DH would never question my parenting or call me names, if that was a more than once occurrence I'd be really considering my position. He has completely ignored your opinion, your feels and the fact you are their mother. There can't be a 3rd person in a relationship. Have you asked him why his mother could never be lying but he is satisfied that you can be? You sound greatly undervalued OP and if I were you I would not put up with that.

MrsLupo · 17/04/2017 21:33

Hi again, OP. Glad your DCs are home and so sorry that you've had such a horrible weekend. Sorry also that your thread has been dogged with so many people who can't be bothered to read it properly, and now also has been overrun by what Hissy has excellently described as 'blow ins from Gransnet'. I am also a mother of boys and have no worries whatsoever about them getting married, as I have absolutely no fucking intention of behaving like these dreadful matriarch MILs who treat their sons like a battleground and their grandchildren like the spoils.

My own MIL showed her cards nice and early by being on holiday for the first three days of DC1's life, and then phoning on day 4, when my milk had just come in and I was a sobbing, leaking, bleeding, gibbering wreck, and announcing that she was coming over immediately. When asked to wait 24 hours, she responded by bursting into tears herself and having to hand to phone to FIL as she was 'too upset to speak'. She did, however, manage to wail 'Why, oh, why are they trying to keep me away from the babyyyyyy!' so loudly that it could be heard openly in the room at our end. All of this was a complete departure from her previously reasonably civilised behaviour, but has been replicated again and again in myriad ways. I have kept her on a fairly tight rein, as I regard her as unhinged where the GCs are concerned, but she has still managed some proper outrages over the years when the supervision has slipped - I could give some corking examples, but they would totally out me!

So your situation is not at all uncommon, OP, however singled out and victimised you are probably feeling atm. It's also well-worn territory that your DH can't see his mother's behaviour for what it is. He has obviously learned from the earliest age that the fallout when mama doesn't get her own way just isn't worth it, and probably filters what he sees and how he sees it through a lens that helps him put her first in all things. FIL is probably an enabler, siblings may well be ranked in order of how well they meet her needs, etc, etc. And then along comes you. You are right that she feels threatened by you. You have the power to unseat her from her position of supremacy, because the smallest additions to the family are under your direct control and are conditioned to be loyal to you. You are also going against what she sees as the natural order of things if you challenge her at all, because she may well have lost a similar battle of wills with her own MIL, and so on. Women in generations gone by had very little power beyond the family; she has probably waited for the top job for a long while and doesn't feel like power sharing now she's got it.

What is tougher for you is that your DH is very hostile to accepting that her behaviour is problematic, and prefers to see you as the villain. There is lots of reading you could share with him - the Toxic Parents/Inlaws books, for instance, and myriad websites that others will no doubt point you to - and if he can accept that she is the problem here, lots of strategies you can use together that minimise the impact on him of having to stand up to her directly, e.g. deferring decisionmaking til you can 'check your diary', or taking the initiative to invite the PILs to your home turf to see the GCs so you avoid power struggles on their turf but give everyone their pound of flesh.

If he prefers to see you as the problem instead of her, though - and it sounds as though he has been really hateful to you this weekend - then you really do have a problem of a different sort on your hands. It sounds like revisiting counselling is essential - but do you even want to? DP and I have had numerous words over the years about the ILs' behaviour, how to view it and how to handle it, but he has never described my parenting as 'disgusting' or 'unforgivable', and never would. How do you get past that? Is this the only aspect of your relationship that is a problem? I hope there are other MNetters whose MILs have really tried to break up their marriages who have constructive advice to give and happy endings to share.

I really feel for you, OP. Power struggles are perhaps the most upsetting part of life. It is really tough when they are part of the landscape of your family, and unbearable in a marriage. Flowers

Realitea · 17/04/2017 21:53

He has already said counselling is not something he'll do again. I am starting to think he was just waiting for a reason to end the marriage. We've come close a few times.
The only arguments we have ever had have all been about his family.
He has never accepted my view and never backed me up.
Tonight I just feel like it's the end. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully nothing else will happen tonight, I'm too drained.

OP posts:
Realitea · 17/04/2017 21:53

To be told I'm a terrible mother is pretty unforgivable

OP posts:
Slightlyperturbedowlagain · 17/04/2017 21:54

But I'm sure you aren't Flowers

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