Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Aibu to have not stopped.

765 replies

Quiddichcup · 10/03/2018 06:26

Dd went to my mum's after school yesterday due to bad weather. Mum lives very close to the school and has said dd is welcome. Dd gets there at 3.30 and I finished work at 4pm so it wasn't for long.

I text dd as I came out to say I was on my way. And she replied to tell me my mum wanted me to go into the house.

I only saw mum 2 days ago and didn't have time. I had a 10 minute walk to my car ( in the rain) and called her to say I was sorry but I couldn't come in as I had a text from my food shopping I had ordered to say it was on its way. I hadn't actually ordered the food to come till 5pm but last week when I got home at 4.20pm it was sat outside my house.
Obviously I didn't want to miss it, so just asked her what the matter was. She wouldn't tell me and just said I needed to go in. I kept saying I couldn't but what was wrong.

She then got cross and told me to ' use my bloody common sense but I still didn't know and said to use it over what?

I then got screamed and shouted at as it was for mothers day. She had for dd some flowers to give me and wanted to watch dd give them to me. She called me selfish and hung up.

I was upset. I drove to mums house. Dd came out. Mum would usually come to the porch and save but she didn't.

Dd said mum slammed the door on her and told her to tell me not to call her.

A bit later I get a phone call and shes demanding I apolgise for pressuring her to tell me why I needed to go in. All my fault apparently. Ww3 has kicked off and mud slinging in my direction.

We were meant to be meeting the rest of the family Sunday for mothers day. Last year's mothers day was ruined over a huge family row with my sister. I don't want a repeat of that and with this going on with mum, cancelled my invite but said sorry.

Which has now made everything worse. I wouldn't pick up the phone to her so just got text after text of crap from her. And I can't have explained more times that i just needed to get home as I had had a text saying my shopping was on its way.

It's really upset me.

OP posts:
LimonViola · 11/03/2018 10:51

*Today 10:43 Quiddichcup

Limon. The fall out would last month's and months and months. It wouldn't be a ' see how they are next time you see them ' my phone would be buzzing off the hook, all manner of shit would be said. Other people would get dragged into it and then it just becomes a sorry mess affecting about 20 people.*

Okay. Well, we can't have that. So I guess you'll just have to take anything they throw at you for the rest of your life. As clearly there's no alternative.

Ever wonder how other people with emotionally abusive and irrational relatives deal with it? You are clearly resigned to this being your life so good luck with it. I just hope your daughter finds a way to break the cycle as it's not fair on her.

YouTheCat · 11/03/2018 10:58

It won't last months if you block their numbers and just refuse to engage.

Quiddichcup · 11/03/2018 11:01

Limon- would you please stop.
There isn't any need to be throwing stuff at me. I haven't done anything to deserve it and my actions don't warrant critisim.

There is more than one way to go about something and I would rather prefer to walk away in a calm and dignified manner than crawl out from under a rubble in 6 months time, waving a victory flag but having lost 2 limbs.

OP posts:
Quiddichcup · 11/03/2018 11:04

I'm sorry but I'm not going no contact. And I never said I would. I said I'm going to look at ways of putting up boundaries and lowering my expectations. Managing my own behavior so I don't get sucked into theirs.

My choice is to go. Pay when asked with a ' gosh, wish I had thought about charging people ' speak little and leave as early as possible. And that is an ok choice for today.

Next mothers day will be different and will just be dd and i.

OP posts:
TERFragetteCity · 11/03/2018 11:06

Ever wonder how other people with emotionally abusive and irrational relatives deal with it? You are clearly resigned to this being your life so good luck with it. I just hope your daughter finds a way to break the cycle as it's not fair on her.

Give it a fucking rest. And stop bullying the OP into doing what you want.

RandomMess · 11/03/2018 11:09

@Quiddichcup dig your purse out and show them the 3p that you have in it Grinplease do not take any £ with you and do not pay back any more than you can cope with each week.

Or just turn up with 2 x Aldi soft drinks and tell him it's all you can afford.

Lizzie48 · 11/03/2018 11:11

You're being goady, @LimonViola and you really need to back off. Just because the OP's way of dealing with it is different from yours it doesn't make you right and her wrong.

The thing with toxic families is that it's something you become conditioned to, for you it becomes normal and your life.

The OP's plan to just get through the weekend and not stand up for herself is actually a survival strategy. I've done that in the past, just had my DB to stay, put up with his shit behaviour because I didn't want to deal with the fallout from saying no.

This is the typical response on AIBU, because posters just don't get it.

Thanks OP

FantasticButtocks · 11/03/2018 11:12

My dear OP, I have just read this whole thread (am on a long train journey) and I want to say to you I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND Flowers

Your mother is a nightmare she is utterly unreasonable, demanding, needy, childish and she's a bully - your dd is 100% right and can see things much more clearly because she has had the benefit of an intelligent, thoughtful and well rounded upbringing from you.

Of course there are many people on here who won't understand and say things like 'but it's your mum' etc. They simply do not understand your family dynamics, so their comments are just unhelpful and should be dismissed.

I have a mother who would behave very much in this way BUT she can't with me now as I am unable to have a relationship with her, as I simply cannot tolerate it, sad but I had to choose this path to protect myself, my DDs, and my sanity. I have been unable to have a relationship with my mother for about 18 years now, it's the biggest sadness of my life, but otherwise I would have no life.

I have two wonderful adult dds and am so grateful that we have a close, loving and really lovely relationship with each other. I would not dream of treating them as your mother treats you, or as mine has treated me. And that is why things are good between us, always have been and always will be.

(Your brother is part of the family dysfunction too, and I'm aghast he's asking for payment to come to his for Mother's Day btw)

So, happy Mother's Day to you Op, and be thoroughly happy that you and your dd are close and know how to treat each other decently and lovingly, it's wonderful FlowersSmile

Quiddichcup · 11/03/2018 11:14

I'm like the queen in that i never carry cash.
😉
I just don't have millions in the bank 😂

I'll pay it. But like I said I'll wait till he chases me and then I'll make a comment and there will be no further invites to mine and neither am I running around trying to plan things for people. In the future I'm just planning for dd and I.
This is a big deal as I am the planner in the family. If we are free we might go but since I am the planner we most likely will not be free.
It can be on my terms now.

OP posts:
Quiddichcup · 11/03/2018 11:21

Thanks fantastic.
Sorry your mum is tricky but good to know things are good for you.

Dd is a star. An absolute star but she has been parented in a very different way. This isn't new and she isn't stupid and many many times we have had chats about people's behaviours and why they are like that and how it's not our fault or responsibility. She knows.

OP posts:
fearfultrill · 11/03/2018 11:32

@LimonViola go and antagonise someone else! You're just goading and goading and goading you must be extremely bored

FantasticButtocks · 11/03/2018 11:36

I know she does, from what you've already said. I will never stop being grateful that my daughters love me and actually like me too, and that we all always treat each other with love and respect. Celebrate today as you are a very fine mother and have a fantastic daughter, and that's the most important thing, and you did that FlowersFlowersFlowersFlowers

LimonViola · 11/03/2018 11:38

No worries guys, I wasn't planning on saying any more now. I've given my thoughts and hope some of it sinks in.

Really wasn't goading you OP, I'd have nothing to gain Smile

Whocansay · 11/03/2018 11:39

Just seen that you're now being charged. Wow. Your brother is a CF.

You say it's not worth the hassle of not paying, but I would make the bastard squirm. Ask for receipts. WTF can he be providing that's £15 a head? Be very vocal that you have hosted on numerous occasions and never charged.

I suspect you will get hassle whatever you do. You would be better off going with your boursin plan with you DD. At least you would enjoy that.

Hygge · 11/03/2018 11:40

Limon - I'm agreeing with almost everything you say.

The OP did get an unfair kicking on this thread, from posters who are determined to insist she has received free childcare and should take anything her mother throws at her.

In their world teenage grandchildren don't independently visit grandparents and no mother is toxic.

If she takes your suggestion to print off this thread then she needs to cross out those posts with marker pen because they are unhelpful and useless to her.

Those posters are not helping the OP, they are enabling her mother in terrible behaviour and applying FOG to the OP in the process.

I'm glad that you posted the full "blood is thicker than water" quote. I've had that saying thrown at me before, implying that as DH's wife of over sixteen years, the mother of his three children, I still mean less to him than members of his blood family even if he hasn't seen them in years. (Not DH who said that, I ought to point out).

I get that you're trying to give the OP some 'tough love' as it were, and I agree with a lot of what you say, but the OP has to move at her own pace.

We tried for years to cope with DH's family before we went NC, and DH still falls into a role of trying to appease them. Mostly his sister now but for example last year his father got hold of DH's phone number and sent a text demanding DH send something to his mum for mother's day.

DH had been totally NC for about two years by that point but he caved and sent flowers because otherwise he thought they would turn up at our door and cause trouble. He said his siblings would get involved and it would be awful and it was just easier to send flowers to keep them quiet.

What really happened was they took the flowers to be an invitation to push for contact again, and used them as proof that DH would be in touch if not for me stopping him. I've never stopped him but it's easier to blame me than look at themselves.

Even SIL, who I thought I had a good relationship with, recently upset DH and when he ignored some very spiteful messages from her, she sent another one saying that she assumed he was no longer allowed to speak to her.

But DH has been trapped in this since childhood. It's a bit like a revolving door, he knows what his family are like but he also has this idea that somehow if he could just find the right thing to do, they will be better. Realistically he knows that's never going to happen but it hurts.

And when they send their own flying monkeys out, sometimes he gets sucked in a bit. So the door turns around and sometimes he's outside in the fresh air and sometimes he's inside in their toxic mess.

Quiddich I'd like to wish you Happy Mother's Day, and I hope your family don't spoil it for you.

I wish you felt that you could have the day you and your DD would like.

Please look at the Stately Homes threads, and perhaps have a look at the books by Susan Forward, who writes very well about Toxic Parents and Toxic In-Laws.

We accepted some terrible behaviour from DH's parents but it was only when I felt I could speak to someone else about it and saw their reaction that I realised just how bad it really was.

Sometimes you have to hold up a mirror to what's going on so you can see it, and sometimes you need someone else to hold the mirror for you so you can see clearly.

I think that's what Limon is trying to do.

You don't deserve and don't have to put up with what your family are doing, Limon is right when she says you don't have to be nicer to them than they are to you.

Storminateapot · 11/03/2018 11:41

I really can't understand those of you who are trying to goad OP into making a stand today, of all days. It isn't necessary. Do you just want to be able to read about the juicy dramatic fight it'll cause later on rather than have OP come back & say 'it was ok, we kept it to light chit-chat and got out as quickly as decently possible'?

I completely understand why you have chosen your route out of this mess OP. You're obviously not afraid to pull back as you've done it before, this is the tipping point where it's time to do it again. No need for feeding into anyone's drama, no big scene, just quietly back off so that you and DD can peacefully live your lives.

I hope it's ok today. I'm astonished at the cover charge for visiting family for a do and wondering what on earth he can be serving for £15 a head???

Quiddichcup · 11/03/2018 11:44

Yes I did 😊
I'm not even modest about it. I'm a damn good mother but I'm a single parent to one child .

I'm aware why I made bad choices and so parented in a way to ensure dd was never in the same position I was in. I've made sure her emotional needs and development are looked after just as much as her physical needs. Plus I love who she is as she is and don't feel in competition with her.

OP posts:
Areyousureaboutthat · 11/03/2018 11:47

But it's all so twisted in your mind you somehow think it's preferable to appease your family over feeding your child
I agree, paying the money but then stating it will reduce next weeks available food budget does seem a bit odd, especially as
op was very insistent yesterday that she would not put the food delivery at risk (as there was literally no other food in the house, just to appease her mother by popping in when asked. Although if she'd known it was a surprise for her, she would have. This seems a little contradictory.

Quiddichcup · 11/03/2018 11:50

I've got this week's food , it came on Friday.
Next weeks food budget will be from next Friday.
My tax credits go into my account on a Friday.

But thank you for trying to pick holes in an argument that wasn't the point anyway.

OP posts:
Hygge · 11/03/2018 11:51

Living with this sort of family can be like living under siege.

Contradictory is part and parcel of that. If you can't predict what they will do or you know you're going to be dealing with weeks of fallout, what made sense yesterday is not what works today.

Stop trying to pick the OP apart.

LimonViola · 11/03/2018 11:51

Thanks for such a lovely post Hygge!

I completely agree OP has to and will move at her own pace, given that none of us barring OP has the actual ability to make those changes for her I always assume posters are aware of the fact that it's all just advice and opinions, not trying to force anyone to do anything. Firstly because it's impossible, secondly to be frank who would want to be involved in a stranger's life to that extent (most of us are on here because it's enjoyable and interesting not to play god!), and thirdly none of us would ever know the full story, only what we're told.

So it's frustrating to be told to basically shut up when I'm trying to help. Sometimes when somebody is so defeatist because it's all they've known it can be helpful for someone to take that to its logical conclusion to show how unrealistic that is when taken to the end point. As in, okay then, if we accept you can't do anything about it because nothing will change then I guess this is how it will always be. I know when I've had that said to me it's stung but made me realise that the only person who can make changes is me and there's no benefit to going round the same circles over and over again yet still complaining nothing changes.

I'm absolutely not trying to goad so not sure where that came from, and if anyone reads the rest of my posts they'll see I've offered advice and support, though it's telling that the flurry of 'shut up' posts only came after my post saying well, I guess that's that then, there's nothing you can do.

I do wish OP the best and I feel very sad for anybody who is so unable to put their own needs and dignity first against others, just because they're 'family'. The original quote is the one I live by. The bonds of family are no stronger than those with people you choose and I would never accept worse behaviour from somebody who I'm related to than someone I'm not.

If anyone is reading who's been down a similar path and eventually had to make the difficult decision to go NC, stand alone are a brilliant resource for support: it's a loss and I still grieve but nothing is worth being treated like shit and I really hope someday the OP realises her mum only has power over her if OP decides to allow it.

Hygge · 11/03/2018 11:57

Limon Stand Alone are very good aren't aren't they. I do think that estrangement is weirdly under-researched and very misunderstood.

And a lot of the books and blogs or forums seem biased towards parents of adult children who have chosen estrangement or talk about ending the estrangement rather than accepting it and practicing self care.

Stand Alone are just very supportive about how it feels to be estranged rather than pushing for a reconciliation.

DevilsDoorbell · 11/03/2018 12:03

Good luck today. Your plan sounds perfect.

So sorry that as well as having to deal with your family you’ve had some crazy shit on here to deal with too.

Areyousureaboutthat · 11/03/2018 12:05

I'll pay it. But like I said I'll wait till he chases me and then I'll make a comment and there will be no further invites to mine

But you're continuing the game playing here yourself op. Why not just come out and say what you are really thinking, pay if you're going to, then make a clean break? This just seems to drag it out and add to the overall toxicity.
I'm not trying to pick holes btw, just wondering why that attitude was uppermost in one situation but not the other. If this is how best to deal with your toxic family, obviously that's what you have to do to best protect yourself. It just didn't make sense to me to be inconsistent when dealing with difficult people. Didn't mean to provoke you!

Quiddichcup · 11/03/2018 12:09

Because no one chases me for anything and I'm never slow to voice my opion.

Waiting means it's now on my terms not when I've been asked to .

I always explain and justify. So I'm not going to either. I know why and that's the main thing.

On my terms and no justifying are things I want to do.

OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread