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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Weird daughter in law

300 replies

ericsmum1234 · 17/08/2017 11:46

I have three children in their '30's and a son of 11. My problem is with one of my son's DP. She's always been a bit difficult to get along with but after 7 years I'm at the end of my tether. My son and her moved about 2 hours drive away for work 3 years ago. All good, they love where they live and have got really good jobs and a good life and my ds is very happy with her BUT, she really seems to dislike me and makes no secret of it. My youngest and his brother are really close & I've driven him there numerous times that involves a 4 hour round trip, but when I get there she barely says hello and when ive asked for a cup of tea she says no, we've got stuff to do. It's a brew ffs! And I have to turn around and drive for another 2 hours to get home. They rock up every xmas and eat all the food and contribute nothing, I'm on my own with little money and struggle to provide every year ( my two other children contribute, we do it between the three of us).

What's tipped me this time is I took my son up & she wasn't there, my son said she was at work and I didn't think anything of it. Then when I spoke to my youngest in the phone he told me that she was in the bedroom and came out when I'd gone. Obviously avoiding me. I just wanted to scream at her and say "what's your problem with me?" But my son wouldn't back me up. I know that he'd take her side and just stop speaking to me because he won't ever admit he's in the wrong. I'm not the sort of MIL who interferes ( I get on really well with my other children's DP), but I'm not doing that trip again because a) I can't afford the petrol and b) I'm not having the piss taken out of me. My youngest doesn't want to go any more either because she's not that nice to him.
The question is that this situation is going to pop again soon, how do I handle it? My anxiety is through the roof just thinking about it Sad

OP posts:
ohtheholidays · 17/08/2017 13:07

From now on stop bothering with the phone calls and texts,just text them on they're birthdays(or even just on your sons if she hates you so much she most probably wont want you mentioning her birthday any ways)and don't invite them for Christmas any more,if she hates you that much then surely she doesn't want to spend Christmas with you anyways!

I know it will be hard and that it sounds very harsh but my poor Auntie and Uncle(who are really lovely)had this with one of they're DIL's even though they babysat when ever asked gave money to the GC and they're DIL and DS all the time,helped out when ever they asked(even though my Auntie and Uncle are both seriously ill)she was awful to them and her DH and she made him cut of contact with all of his family(she pretended to have Cancer to all of them for years)in the end they got tough and stopped having anything to do with they're DS and DIL,it took a few bloody years but they're DS started to admit what had been going on and what she was really like and he stood upto his wife and now has regular contact with his parents(my Aunt and Uncle)he's still married to her(God only knows why)but he sees his parents on his own or with his children and they're relationships are really strong now.

It's not only women that can be in emotionally and mentally abusive relationships but sadly when a man is the victim you often find that the only way to get through to them is to withdraw from the situation so they can see who's really the problem!

Flyingflipflop · 17/08/2017 13:08

The cup of tea - why are you blaming her and not him, he is capable right?

Nowhere has the OP stated she asked the daughter in law, however the daughter in law said 'No, we've got stuff to do' suggesting that she is ruling out her husband making the tea.

EdmundCleverClogs · 17/08/2017 13:13

ohtheholidays

The woman you describe sounds utterly awful, but she must also be quite mentally ill to make up having cancer.

That aside, there is obviously a bigger picture in this situation, and I think it's always unfair to suggest a partner is abusive based on one outsider's version of events. The only thing I'm reading here is the DiL actively dislikes the OP, but that doesn't stop her son going around himself. His behaviour isn't excusable here, he has responsibility for his own family, that's not down to her.

Goldenhandshake · 17/08/2017 13:14

Your SIL is a rude cow and your DS is frankly not much better. You are family, call them out on it:

  1. No I will not be making a 4 hour round trip because when I get there, you pair of fuckers can't even offer me a cup of tea.
  2. Your brother does not want to come and stay anymore because your partner is a stroppy mare and he feels unwanted there, sort it out.

You are his mother and these conversations should be able to take place without a nuclear fall out. He is enabling her rudeness and she is showing zero respect or common decency.

My DH would not get away with treating my mother like that and I wouldn't dream of doing it to his mum, so unless there is some huge back story, they are both being unreasonable.

mogonfoxnight · 17/08/2017 13:16

If you are feeling anxious about it, it might be that you aren't seeing the wood for the trees. I think it might help if you knew why she doesn't like you, and you could then process it and put it away, so to speak. Can you just ask the question, no blame or shame, just ask your ds why she doesn't like you, in a really open way, and ready to listen? For example, if the reason was, say, she grew up in a dv household and that incident meant she couldn't face talking to you it would at least explain what seems like a strong negative reaction from her?

Then you can manage the whole thing as you like, with different expectations. Eg you can decide whether or not to go up there, and if you do want to, take tea with you and do not expect to see her, then you won't get upset. For xmas tell them exactly how much to contribute, explaining how it is calculated and say it is the same as the other siblings. If she is coming, put up a mental wall so that you are polite but you are otherwise not really aware of what she is doing or saying so that it doesn't wind you up. Before your birthday, you could send your ds a text saying what you'd like, so at least you've said it even if it doesn't happen, and then forget about it. Make the whole issue a non event, and keep up the loving relationship with the ds as that is what is important here.

Slightlyperturbedowlagain · 17/08/2017 13:16

The tea thing is weird and sounds quite rude in the context that's been described.
The rest of it could be explainable, why don't you talk to your son when he comes over on his own and see what he says? She may feel that she doesn't want to always be 'babysitting' your 11 year old at the weekend. And I'm sorry but Birthday, Christmas and the rest for your family is your son's responsibility not your DILs. Presumably you don't think your son should be running around organising all these things for her parents?

GarlicGrace · 17/08/2017 13:17

It's impossible to say what's going on with her from your posts. Two things that jump out are: She had an abusive childhood; she isn't good at handling conflict.

The second can easily be an outcome of the first. So can controlling behaviour - if you grew up subject to random violence, your life feels like a constant hurricane. You might easily end up trying to exert fine control everything as an adult.

Whatever the reasons, we know she's controlling and not good with awkward feelings. I think you need to be careful that this doesn't lead to her husband being cut off from his family in the long term. Best way to keep your relationships going is to encourage his solo visits, and facilitate visits to their home by any family members who can cope with her quirks.

I'd advise NOT talking about her to your son, apart from the bland necessities like how is she and is her flu better, etc. Try to think of yourself as her benign but distant aunt Wink And, yes, raise your game over Christmas. It doesn't sound like she could cope with hosting it, but you can certainly tell DS what to bring or how much to contribute.

Good luck!

caffeinestream · 17/08/2017 13:22

Why does the DIL always get the blame in these situations? I don't get it.

OP, your son is the problem. He's either happy for his partner to treat you like dirt, or he doesn't care enough about you to stop her behaviour. Either way, he doesn't come out of this smelling of roses.

He's also happy to lie to you about her whereabouts (that she's at work when she's not), let her refuse you a cup of tea in his own home, and chooses not to bother with your birthday. None of that is his partner's fault. If he wanted to send you a card or present, he would. If he wanted you to stay and make you a cup of tea, that would happen too.

You say you've had an emotionally abusive marriage - has this perhaps impacted your older son more than you've realised or are willing to let on?

ElizabethShaw · 17/08/2017 13:28

I would step right back, minimise the contact you have with your DIL. Let your son come and visit you and pick up his brother from your house if he wants a visit. Send her a card on her birthday.

Tell your son if he wants to come to yours for Christmas this year he needs to contribute £x.

NellieBuff · 17/08/2017 13:29

I think there is a whole backstory here that we are not being told about. No story is ever black and white and something must have happened to make her behave like this. It might not be anything you have done (or not done) but something is a little awry. I thought the use of "little life" tells us more about your thinking than anything else. And since when can a grown man not offer to make a cup of tea etc. It is also up to your son to contribute to the Christmas meal not her.

kali110 · 17/08/2017 13:33

The dil sounds spiteful, but your son doesn't sound much better.
Sorry op, it sounds like a horrible situation.
I'd stop bothering with them now, as hard as that will be.

LouiseBrooks · 17/08/2017 13:37

She sounds obnoxious frankly. What kind of person actually refuses someone a cup of tea when they've driven two hours to get there? If she doesn't want the child at her house, she should tell your DS, not take it out on you.

However your DS sounds totally wet. Stop taking your youngest over there, if DS wants to see his brother, tell him he can make the effort. Either stop inviting them for Christmas and tell DS why or make it plain they have to pay 1/4 of the costs involved since everyone else contributes.

Sadly, they are both behaving like this because you've allowed them to get away with it. You have other children and their DPs who are happy to spend time with you, so make the most of them.

travis45 · 17/08/2017 13:41

Some dil are roasters, as are some mil, fil, family in general.

My mil faces similar situations, poor woman could not do any more for her son, dil & their family and it's still never good enough.

Her dil always finds ways to make a fuss, drama, issue with everything.

Saying that, your son should grow a back bone and say something, genuinely don't understand how someone could sit back and allow bad behaviour and not say anything regardless of who it is.

If I was in your position I'd be taking a step back.

trulybadlydeeply · 17/08/2017 13:44

Why not just send an email or text to both of them, be open and say that you don't feel welcome in their house and in their lives, and that you don't understand why. Ask if they have particular reasons, and if there is anything you can all do to improve the situation. However also ask them if they can be honest, and tell you if they wouldn't prefer any contact with your DS and/or you. Assure them that although this will be very upsetting, you will respect their wishes in this.

grannytomine · 17/08/2017 13:46

And conversely, I think mothers of sons are biologically programmed to go a bit tigermama when their sons form a serious relationship, especially if that relationship takes the son away or means that access to the son is not as free and easy as it once was. I seem to have missed that programming and OP gets on with her other sons' partners so not sure it applies to her either. I think the other's are sons, maybe I misread that bit?

Goodasgoldilox · 17/08/2017 13:46

It does sound as if there is more going on here.

It is odd that your son didn't offer you tea and that he doesn't answer texts etc.

This is not to do with DIL - it is his relationship with you.

Perhaps he has talked to DIL about whatever it is that prevents him from normal polite behaviour towards you and it is this that makes her so stiff with you? (I forgive/forget things done to me by my family but know that my DH finds it difficult to forgive them for the same things - even if they happened to me before we met.)

GabsAlot · 17/08/2017 13:48

your sons a wimp i wouldnt have my dh disrespect my family lik that without a damn good reason i cant stand people lik that controlling arseholes-hes scard of her

WhereYouLeftIt · 17/08/2017 13:50

Your son is as much at fault as your DIL. He knows how she treats you, he's there when she does it and he's got eyes and ears. He ignores it, sweeps it under the carpet, and is thus her accomplice.

There's no reason for you to do the four-hour round trip any more (twice, I presume, to pick your DS11 up again); "My youngest doesn't want to go any more either because she's not that nice to him." So he's not going to ask to go any more. Does your older son invite him? Decline - palm it off with youngest wanting to hang with his mates etc. Should your DS11 ever want to go again, tell your older DS that you can't afford the petrol. Ball in his court.

Christmas - time to be blunt. 'Your other brothers contribute, and you need to too. I cannot afford to do a meal like this on my income. We currently split the costs three ways so everyone is subsidising you. You're old enough to know that Santa doesn't provide anything, the adults do. Are you an adult? '

Mummyoflittledragon · 17/08/2017 13:57

My sil and brother are horrible. My therapist has described them as being the two fucked up people in the room, who were instantly drawn to eachother.

They and my mother are all narcissists, sil is a psychopath. Sil made several scenes at my stepdads funeral in relation to my lovely and well behaved 9 yr old dd and my brother caused a scene at the burial of stepdads ashes in relation to me. Dd did nothing wrong, I did nothing wrong. Brother refuses to accept I'm disabled and basically assaulted me.

Almost 2 years ago, sil admitted to me she has a power struggle with my mother. She is basically pulling away from my family and trying to drag my brother. He is the golden child and incredibly close to my mother. When my stepdad died, my mother tried to make him into a substitute husband. As is he's in between two difficult women. As a result, his wife and ds lives in one location and he lives part time in another location. For work. They moved somewhere, where they knew he wouldn't be able to work from a very central location brimming with opportumity. In fact, his work is commutable distance from where they used to live. Dh thinks it's because he doesn't want the responsibility of being a full time husband and father.

My sil is horrible to me because she actually wants to be horrible to my mother. But daren't. She's worked out that my brother doesn't care if she's horrible to me. Because he was the pfb and I came along after and he never accepted me. He always bullied me and called me horrendous names and my mother did very little to prevent this dynamic, which has continued into our 40's. She is also horrible to dd by default and now she has her own pfb. With her, my dd is always in the wrong with her ds even though dd is so loving, caring and gentle with him. She's 3 yrs older.

I really really don't know what is going on with your dil. My first reaction on reading your posts is that I didn't know underage marriage was legal in this country. I sincerely hope that you can find some peace in knowing that sometimes there is nothing you can do. Dh and I have bent over backwards with my brother and sil. Time and time again. I've had threads under a different username and one under this name. But they've both gone too far now. Dd is petrified of my brother after what he did to me at the end of July and very frightened of his wife after she screamed at her after the funeral. We are now NC.

I sincerely hope your dil and ds never have children so that they do not bring the next generation of eff'd up children into the world.

KimmySchmidt1 · 17/08/2017 13:59

Assume that all MILs are fucking annoying.

Just deal with that - its not personal, but you may be able to fix it.

Ask your son what it is that she doesn't like to see if you can change.

Don't ask him to pick you over her - you can't marry your son, have sex with him, or give him children so you shouldn't be asking him to choose you.

diddl · 17/08/2017 13:59

"OP, your son is the problem. He's either happy for his partner to treat you like dirt, or he doesn't care enough about you to stop her behaviour. Either way, he doesn't come out of this smelling of roses."

Absolutely!

I find my MIL difficult but if I said that I couldn't be doing with her & would hide in the bedroom when all she was going to do was drop off his brother & have a drink, chat & sit down before driving for 2hrs my husband would think that I was being ridiculous.

ohtheholidays · 17/08/2017 14:01

EdmundCleverClogs I agree that the OPS son needs to show some responsibility I was just showing that we never know what is going on behind closed doors,with my Cousin he felt completely stuck,he loved his wife but hated the way she behaved but years later we are all sure that he was suffering alot of emotional and mental abuse at the hands of his wife,but we couldn't make him see that,he only started seeing things with real clarity when he was the one that was left dealing with it on his own.

For the OP it could be sadly that her Son is also not a nice person but I just wanted to show another side to what could be going on.

contrary13 · 17/08/2017 14:02

I can see similarities between your situation, OP, and my own family's - but from your youngest's POV.

There are 14 years between myself and my oldest brother. He and his family are NC with our mother/my father, but maintain a relationship (which is pretty close; he's the first person I turn to in a crisis, and I appear to be his) with myself and my children.

Our mother, however, blames the NC on my SIL, claiming that she "want(ed) [DB1] all to herself!" and so on. SIL did her utmost to maintain the relationship between my mother and DB1 - until she realised that it was never going to work. That my mother would always view her as "a mistake" and "not good enough" (my mother spent their wedding day trying to convince DB1 not to go through with the marriage!). DB1 went NC with our mother/my father the day after I turned 18. He says that he had to maintain their parent/child relationship until then, in order to make sure that I was safe, but that as soon as I was legally old enough, they were finished with my parents.

The fact that she called SS and reported you as someone who needed parenting lessons, is worrying. What has your youngest said to them? As for her hiding and avoiding you... well, whilst very immature, perhaps that is better than her telling you what she thinks of you? Maybe she - like my SIL - is of the opinion that if you can't say anything nice to someone, say nothing at all?

My mother refuses to accept/acknowledge that she is at fault anywhere in the breakdown of her relationship with my brother and his family (she has a grandson she's never met, and - if my brother has anything to do with it - never will!). Your youngest may well be siding with you... because they feel that they have no other choice, but to. I know from personal experience that at 11, I did exactly the same when questioned about whether or not I wanted a relationship with whichever relative had pissed my mother off that week. Children are loyal to their parents... until they realise that they actually don't have to be.

Encourage your youngest to have a relationship with their brother, communicate with your son, listen to what he and his wife - the woman he chose to marry and hopefully spend the rest of his life in marital/familial partnership with - have to say, and go from there.

Just don't make your 11 year old feel that they have to choose between you. Because, honestly, I've been there, as a child not much older than your youngest - and it's not a great place to be pushed into.

What is your son's relationship like with his other siblings, though? Do they get on, or does he feel like the black sheep of the family...? Could your DIL be trying to protect him from being hurt/herself from having to deal with the fallout of his emotional pain?

Flowers
Sparkletastic · 17/08/2017 14:08

Back right off them. Agree with PP that your son may well have influenced your DIL's perception of you. He certainly hasn't helped matters. Is he the middle child from your adult DCs?

BeakersofNaiceHam · 17/08/2017 14:08

It's a shame she doesn't like you but you don't sound to have done anything that bad to her and I wouldn't waste the mental energy on wondering why or trying to change things between you. I think I would just focus on your son and try to do things without the dil. For example ask your son to come on an outing together but don't invite her. Make it an outing for your 2 sons rather than a family outing. Don't say you don't want her but make it clear it's a day out for the sons.

Christmas is just one day a year so if she wants to come I wouldn't stop her but do make them bring a fair contribution.

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