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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

How will you be as a MIL?

134 replies

Partridgeinabeartree · 27/12/2017 15:22

With all the hatred for MILs on here, I can't help wondering "how will you be as a MIL?" Perfect no doubt! Xmas Hmm

OP posts:
livingdownsouth · 27/12/2017 16:36

I imagine it will depend on what my daughter/son in law would be like as a daughter/son in law Grin.

Greystar · 27/12/2017 16:36

@Partridgeinabeartree I imagine more than once but I like to think she feels the same as me and that it wouldn't have been said in malice.

monkeymamma · 27/12/2017 16:38

Bahahahah good thread idea.

I think about this often because I have two boys, no girls.

I imagine my biggest faults will be:

Over-crafting. I’ve loved making toys and sewing bits and bobs for my babies. I’ve made a couple of things for dniece too. I can imagine minimalist DIL rolling her eyes when she unwraps yet more of my homemade clutter!

Being over keen to be best friends. I’m super sociable and chatty and think I’ll be the opposite of the ‘no-ones good enough for my boy’ type of Mum. I’ll imagine each girlfriend is ‘the one’ and be way too pally.

There are worse crimes than these I’m sure!

DorisDangleberry · 27/12/2017 16:38

I will ensure that I offer lots of practical advice on child rearing, cooking, cleaning, education and so on. And I will always make sure that if that advice is not followed I will gently point it out until they realise the error of their ways.

CatsMother66 · 27/12/2017 16:39

I hope to be a good one, fair and understanding. I’ve had two MiLs, first one was great, second one is a million times worse than Hyacinth Bouquet, (even elocution lessons). I married my second dh when he was 42 and single. He went home for lunch everyday, Sunday lunch every week and did anything she asked. That all changed when we married. I could tell you some tales! She constantly takes my breath away! I will be the total opposite to her!

monkeymamma · 27/12/2017 16:40

Wedding wise I have told DH to save a wee wedding fund for each boy so we can surprise their DGFs (or Dboyfriends) with a discrete and helpful cheque when the time comes. (Btw DH thinks I’m nuts.)

Sallystyle · 27/12/2017 16:46

I will be like my mum.

A genuinely decent person. I won't interfere or give unsolicited advice. I will follow their parenting rules even if I think they are stupid.

They will know I am there for them, I will do what I can to help but I won't be pushy.

Respect boundaries and be nice and you can't go too far wrong. Unless your child marries someone who is just an arsehole. If that happens, you are screwed anyway.

Candyfloss1122 · 27/12/2017 16:51

What strikes me on this thread is the focus on being a mil in terms of gc, parenting etc. Imo this is the whole problem, because that isn't about being a mil, that's about being a grandparent.

Being a mil is the relationship between you and your daughter/son in law, separate from your future gc. More specifically Dil as this is often where tensions are found.

The focus should be "I hope to be friends with my Dil", "I hope to build a genuine bond with my Dil", and Visa versa of course, not I will do this and I will do that for gc.

In my opinion, and in my experience as a Dil, it is almost as if this is simply a title with little meaning, only that she is the route to you becoming a grandparent. It's really sad, and it why mil/Dil are so strained. They aren't real relationships. Not in most cases.

Those that get on with their mil do so because they have a friendship built before gc, and away from gc's. A friendship between 2 individuals, like any normal friendship that is worked on over time.

When introduced to a new partners parents, a Dil is always the outside to start with amongst a new family. If she is embraced by mil then a friendship can begin to form. What tends to happen however is as the mil is in the position of power, she maintains this, usually up until the point that gc are born. Once the dynamic shifts, and a separate family is formed, if no friendship has formed it's pretty much a one was street in terms of the Outlook for mil/Dil future relationship.

I hope to remember to be Dil friend. That's my focus.

Pengggwn · 27/12/2017 16:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LineyRunner · 27/12/2017 17:00

I won't give my DiL an empty envelope for Christmas.

I won't take my son's side if he shags someone at work when many DiL is seven months' pregnant.

I won't take my son's side when he does it again two years later and his wife tells him to just for god's sake go.

seriouslystumped · 27/12/2017 17:01

As a Mum of boys I like to think I would treat my DILs daughters (in a good way!) and hope to have a good relationship with them to the point where they feel able to call on me if they ever need anything. I never met my MIL and it really makes me sad to hear my friends slagging off their MILs for nothing major other than doing things differently to them. I worry that not having a good relationship with my DIL will impact on my relationships with my DS. They are my world and I'd be devastated if a DIL didn't see herself as part of our family but I suppose I'd have to suck it up, because ultimately my boys being happy is what's important. I see it with my friends, the default position seems to be that anything MIL says or does is wrong or unreasonable.

Bitlost · 27/12/2017 17:02

I will hopefully:

  • not speak random bullshit
  • have some faith that my children can bring up their own children
  • not be constantly terrified that Social Services are about to take DGC away
  • not go around my breadwinner DIL's flat dictating what she must give to my DD.
Partridgeinabeartree · 27/12/2017 17:09

I'm a MIL, no surprise there as I started this thread. From what I can gather, it's more difficult being a MIL when you have sons. Girls seem to gravitate towards their mothers, which is understandable.

For the record, I'd just like to say, you do try your best but you'll still make gaffs and DILs don't seem very forgiving. It almost seems like they will use any excuse to label you as difficult/unreasonable/interferring/etc. I have learned long ago to bite my tongue and muddle through.

I try my best and perhaps other MILs are trying their best to.

OP posts:
DeStijl · 27/12/2017 17:09

I can see my self being a nightmare. I will have to work very hard at not being a pain in the arse.

Cocolepew · 27/12/2017 17:10

I'll just do the opposite of what my MIL does. She's a horror.

grasspigeons · 27/12/2017 17:13

I really don't know.

Generally speaking I get on with people so there is no reason I wouldn't get on with the person my son falls in love with but I'm not sure how I'll feel when grandchildren come along. My MIL was perfect until I had children and now she is merely good Smile and sometimes a little irritating.

lalalalyra · 27/12/2017 17:13

I think the main thing I want to remember is a lesson from my best friends MIL - just because my DIL/SIL is closer to their mother doesn't equal them hating me.

MsGameandWatching · 27/12/2017 17:18

I’ve thought about this. My son has high functioning autism and is vulnerable and anxious to please. He’s funny and intelligent though. I do think there’s someone for him out there. I would find it very hard to stand back if his wife was unkind to him or attacking towards him. I’d have to I suppose and hope for the best but I have just seen so many shit relationships that I feel very nervous for him.

LineyRunner · 27/12/2017 17:19

DILs don't seem very forgiving. It almost seems like they will use any excuse to label you as difficult/unreasonable

Oh please.

Barbie222 · 27/12/2017 17:22

First impressions count and are hard to undo.

CharlieSierra · 27/12/2017 17:27

What if she doesn't want to be your friend Candyfloss? What if she thinks she has nothing in common with you and doesn't see why she should make any effort? You're her mother's age, why would she be friends with you? What if she sees any attempt you make to keep your relationship with your son as "pissing all over her territory"? What if despite having a perfectly good relationship with her own mother she completely fails to understand that he feels the same about his family?

MrsZB · 27/12/2017 17:29

Candfloss - those words pretty much exactly describe my situation. So my aims will be to get to know my DIL as a person in her own right. Not necessarily a friendship but a relationship that I will expend time and energy into maintaining.

Sadly I have no relationship with my MIL despite initially trying pretty hard.

Batteriesallgone · 27/12/2017 17:31

I love my MIL and I’ll model myself on her.

One thing she does - and I adore her for it - is she is very gracious. We all make gaffs and sometimes I say things that come out nasty when they aren’t meant to and she’s so lovely and forgiving. It means whenever she says anything a bit questionable it’s so easy to forgive and move on.

Also she makes her love for my DC very clear and really connects with them, plays with them etc. When I see how much she adores my DC it makes me so happy, so I really do try to be friendly and loving with her because she deserves it IYSWIM.

I imagine it must be much harder to maintain good relations with a MIL who is distant with the kids.

Partridgeinabeartree · 27/12/2017 17:31

DILs don't seem very forgiving. It almost seems like they will use any excuse to label you as difficult/unreasonable

Oh please

It's so much easier to overlook faults in someone you love, like your own mum. When it's you MIL it's a bit more difficult, or so it seems.

OP posts:
MrsDilber · 27/12/2017 17:32

I'm with you OP. It calms down in the new year though. All you mums of DS's beware, you will be the MIL one day...

There are lots of children who are bullied, where are all the mothers of said bullies? Defending their behaviour somewhere. It's never YOU (I think I just had an Alan Partridge moment, but you catch my drift).