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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be completely fed up by my PILs obsession with their sons.

25 replies

SophiaTheWorst · 15/11/2017 14:07

MIL & FIL are literally obsessed with their two sons. They think their children are literally the greatest in every sense of the word. My brother in law met a lovely girl who had a child from a previous relationship. I met her and her then 4 year old who seemed really polite and lovely. After the meeting, MIL went on about how spoiled the daughter is. God knows where she got that impression from, but never mind. BIL has stepped in and taken on the father figure role. MIL now goes on about how he has made a huge impact on the girl. How he’s set rules in place that her Mum never had. How he makes her take her uniform after school where as her Mum never used to bother. “What a difference he’s made to her life, he’s given her rules and that’s what a child needs”. In my eyes she really discredits all the hard work her Mum did for those 4 years as a single mother. The only thing she says to the mum’s credit is “she really takes care of my son, last time I was there she brought an apple into him and told him to eat it because he doesn’t eat enough of that sort of thing”. Mil thinks I don’t take enough care of my husband (her other son) as we treat each other as equals and no offence but he’s not my child, I’ll not be telling him to eat fruit. PIL believe their boys should basically be waited on hand and foot and his parents reaction when they saw him put a wash load on was “why are you doing that?” They think their boys are literally the salt of the earth and they’ve made me feel like merely a vessel to carry their grandchildren, rather than a human being and an equal. Unfortunately, future SIL (although a nice girl) is quite backwards in the sense that she does everything around the house so my brother in law won’t lift a finger. I feel like a bit of an outcast in the family because I don’t fit their criteria of a stereotypical wife. Am I over reacting? I’m wondering if maybe I’m the problem here.

OP posts:
ZigZagIntoTheBlue · 15/11/2017 14:10

You're definitely not the problem, but I can't see any of this lot being your best friend going forward. As long as you and dh are happy with the way things are, bollocks to everyone else!

EatTheChocolateTeapot · 15/11/2017 14:10

YANBU, they sound deluded, I would distance myself personally.

MilkTwoSugarsThanks · 15/11/2017 14:13

You live your life your way and let them live their life their way.

I'm a bit Hmm at referring to your BIL's partner as "backward" though. She just has a different view to you.

ThoseFlapsInsideYourCheeks · 15/11/2017 14:13

You’re not the issue, and not over reacting but I do think you need to stop giving her head space it’s clearly doing you no good for your confidence as a wife and mother.

You don’t have to engage with this women, let your husband do all the talking and don’t invite her round anymore,

SophiaTheWorst · 15/11/2017 14:16

MilkTwoSugars maybe a poor choice of words from me. I meant that she waits on him hand and foot as they used to back in the day when the norm was that a man didn’t lift a finger. We have progressed a lot since then. So when I said backwards, I meant similar to wives tended to act back in the day.

OP posts:
SophiaTheWorst · 15/11/2017 14:17

Also, they don’t let me live my life my way, they throw their 2 cents in at every opportinity. Like I said, most recently quizzing DH as to why he was doing a washload.

OP posts:
MilkTwoSugarsThanks · 15/11/2017 14:20

Who's quizzing you? If it's your PIL it's not your BIL's fault. If it's your BIL you just need to say "You live your life your way and we'll live our life our way."

Peachyking000 · 15/11/2017 14:24

Someone needs to pull her up on it, preferably your DH or his brother. This sort of talk would be a one-off in mine or DH’s family, as none of us would put up with it.

SophiaTheWorst · 15/11/2017 14:24

MilkTwoSugars I’m not sure your understanding my thread. In my OP I explain that PIL quizzed DH about why he was doing a washload. BIL and future SIL, I don’t have a problem with. Yes, they live their lives differently to me but each to their own. I’m just finding it frustrating that PIL think their sons are literally gods gift and I don’t get treated as an equal or given the respect that I think any human being deserves. SIL seems to be quite happy with this arrangement of the world revolving around BIL but I don’t feel that way. Hence the reason I feel like a bit of an outcast in the family.

OP posts:
SophiaTheWorst · 15/11/2017 14:26

I’m just seen as someone who doesn’t pull their weight as a wife and doesn’t take care of DH as well as i should, that’s what I’m struggling with.

OP posts:
LovingLola · 15/11/2017 14:26

So what did your husband say when they quizzed him about doing a wash?

SophiaTheWorst · 15/11/2017 14:28

He just said, “I’m doing some washing” and looked at them quite puzzled. MIL said “i’d never have had your father doing that!”

OP posts:
just5morepeas · 15/11/2017 14:33

I'd just laugh and say something like "we're not living in the 1950's/past" or "he's not a child" - don't let her see you're taking that bullshit seriously but don't just let her get away with it either.

Honestly, I can't see them changing, so if it carried on making me unhappy I'd just see them less.

Kr1st1na · 15/11/2017 14:35

As we like to say on MN, you don’t have an inlaw problem, you have a DH problem.

Your Dh needs to speak to them about the unwanted comments on your lifestyle.

And if he disagrees with their unkind remarks about SIL, he needs to say so.

“ I don’t know why you say these things about her , Mum, I like her and think she’s good for brother . Please don’t talk about her like that to me”.

As for you and the kids, I’d suggest you spend less time with them if you don’t want them to influence your children and uspet you.

They won’t care anyway if they think you are worthless.

Sorry if this sounds harsh but you don’t want your kids to think that this attitude towards you is ok. Your husband needs to stand up for his wife and children.

SophiaTheWorst · 15/11/2017 14:41

Kr1st1na you are right. The only thing is, they obsess over the DGC just as much as they do over their two sons, so they won’t care about seeing me less, but I think they’ll kick up a fuss about seeing them less.

OP posts:
BeyondThePage · 15/11/2017 14:45

He just said, “I’m doing some washing” and looked at them quite puzzled. MIL said “i’d never have had your father doing that!”

I'd just give her a cold stare and say - I know - isn't it daft in THIS day and age that I had to teach my husband how to use a washing machine. Plenty of passive aggressive responses to people like them.

NobodysChild · 15/11/2017 14:45

Why are you struggling with doing what works for you and your family?
My MIL thinks I don't look after her 53 year old son enough and always states, he looks unloved and uncared for. He wears what he wants, has his hair cut when he wants and feeds himself if he wants. I look after all the housework and cook all the meals. We are happy with this arrangement. I am not his keeper nor his carer. I told his mother, he could always move back home where she can wrap him in cotton wool and he can stroke her ego. She hasn't made any further remarks in the 6 years since.

Kr1st1na · 15/11/2017 14:50

I think that if they want to see their grandchildren , they need to treat the mother of these children with respect.

And refrain from unwanted personal comments about the family lifestyle.

It’s just good manners.

I don’t agree with how all my friends and relatives bring up their kids but I have the manners to keep my opinions to myself. This isn’t easy as I’m very opinionated Grin.

LakieLady · 15/11/2017 14:50

When I read these threads, I give silent thanks for the lovely woman who is my MIL.

YANBU, she should jump in her time machine and fuck off back to the 50s.

Ttbb · 15/11/2017 14:52

You are not the problem. They sound like a bunch of idiots.

LizzieSiddal · 15/11/2017 15:03

They sound just like my PIL.

Thet think their sons can do absolutely no wrong. My MIL constantly gossips about BIL's partner. So I expect she does the same about me to other people.

As other people have suggested you need your DH to actually correct her. "I am doing the washing as we live in the 21st century and men are quite capable of doing household chores" etc etc.
And correct her when she starts going on about the SIL.

Last Xmas, I got rather tired tipsy and needed a lie down after lunch. (I had had a very shit year and it all got a bit much). I hadn't yet served pudding, but I told DH I just needed 5 minutes.

I could here MIL asking, totally shocked "Well where is she? whats she doing? Well it's a good job I'm here isn't it, we would never get any pudding"
Dh told her to be quiet, that I just needed a bit of time on my own and that Xmas lunch was a joint effort and was not my sole responsibility. She had a huge cat bums face for the rest of the dayXmas Grin

I expect she dined out on my behaviour for months, adding in that I'd abandoned my family on Xmas day, leaving them starving. Hmm Grin By the way my DDs are 23 and 16 and are better cooks than me!

Allthebestnamesareused · 15/11/2017 15:05

So your DH dealt with their nonsense over the washing. That's good.

Next time they say something like this and say "well its house/washing/kids too?" We are nearly at 2020 not 1920."

"yes its such a pity you were born 50 years too early to realise your own worth MIL"

Or smile and wave! (which is what I tend to do around the ILs now although it took me a few years to get to this point)!

Bluetrews25 · 15/11/2017 15:08

As PP said, you both need to laugh, and say 'the 1950's are that way, Mum! Ah there, aren't you old fashioned?'

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 15/11/2017 15:16

You are SO lucky that your DH hasn't absorbed their "sun shines out of his arse" beliefs!
So many men do absorb it and expect their wife to pick up where their mother left off (mine turned into one of these as soon as we moved back within his mother's sphere, unfortunately)

Your MIL will never change - but you are absolutely NOT the odd one out here, you are the face of modernity, she is the face of the past, where women did all the donkey work in the home, regardless of whether or not they also worked outside the home. If she wants to continue being that person, that's entirely up to her - but it's not you.

So long as your DH is happy, then she can fuck right off. Your SIL will have to look out for herself though - you can't be getting involved in that. :(

NewMinouMinou · 15/11/2017 15:21

“I’d never have had your father doing that!”
“That’s your problem.”

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