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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

My mother's incessant hoarding on my son's behalf. Aibu

185 replies

HarleyQuinn33 · 06/12/2020 04:26

Background;. Growing up I lived in old clothes, clothes from bags that people donated to us, boys clothes, my middle aged aunts old clothes, shoes 3 sizes too big with cotton wool stuffed in the end. Home made hair cuts. Etc. My mother had a good job but she had a problem with spending any money on us. As an adult, I have no problem with second hand things but do like to like to have choice now and for the things I have to be quality. My in-laws and friends have given my baby nice quality things so I am lucky and well stocked as a new mum.

Current issue: When I became pregnant my mother started asking me if I wanted my cousin's old baby clothes. I said no, she would sit and try and persuade me, I said no again. She would then ask if I wanted her other friends old baby gym, clothes, baby plates etc and everything else, I said maybe just the gym. She continues to talk and try to persuade me to take everything despite me saying I don't need it all. I eventually keep saying I don't need it all and she says ok. I find out a few weeks later she has asked her friend to drop the baby clothes off at the house despite me saying no to them. I got a bit cross at this point because she just didn't listen and I ask her to please respect my wishes and no more things for the baby thank you we already have enough. A few weeks later my father tells me she went to buy a second hand buggy, bag of clothes and mattress from people from gumtree. I was fuming at this point because she apparently has ignored my wishes. The buggy is dirty and old and my mother tries to insist she will just hose off all the grime.

Fast forward, my child is newborn, she presents a bag of girls clothes to me and insists my son wear the items and that it's all ok. I say no but she protests. Later my father slips up and tells me my mother has a garage and shed full of stuff for my son. I am picturing more baby stuff, but he says there are bikes in there, baby walkers, chairs and tables etc. All piled up that she has asked friends to donate for my son. She gets cross because apparently this was a secret between my father and her.

Am I being unreasonable to be fuming right now? I don't know what to do anymore she just won't listen. When I try to say no to anything she twists it and tells me I am not environmentally friendly, she came from a poor family and had nothing, etc. Etc.

OP posts:
Skipsurvey · 06/12/2020 04:31

yanbu, it is dreadful to be presented with. as much as you may appreciated the things, it would be far nicer for you if you had a choice in the matter.

custardbear · 06/12/2020 04:40

Id tell them the truth about how you felt as a child and you don't want that for your children, say thank you, but they're wasting their space as you'll be refusing their junk

HarleyQuinn33 · 06/12/2020 04:53

@custardbear

Id tell them the truth about how you felt as a child and you don't want that for your children, say thank you, but they're wasting their space as you'll be refusing their junk
I told her this already. I told her how it felt as a child, she apologised... And then tried to give me her friends old potty.
OP posts:
BullshitVivienne · 06/12/2020 04:57

You're doing the right thing by refusing. There's clearly a deeper issue for her here and I don't think there's anything you can say that will stop her hoarding and offering things to you. Perhaps a word with your father to speak to her friends may stop some of it, though I expect she'd find different ways to get things.

AlizarinRed · 06/12/2020 05:06

How horrible - so all the pleasure of buying a nice new bike for your DSs future Xmas, or a special outfit in a colour that suits him - all that is going to be overshadowed by a battle with your DM's tat and guilt because you are being wasteful.
The only way is to distance from her, take anything left on your doorstep round to be dumped on hers - maybe threaten that she won't see DS until you know she has stopped this.
Awful behaviour.

BlackCatShadow · 06/12/2020 05:13

Just keep refusing to allow the stuff into your home. You can't fix her behaviour. It's a kind of mental illness. Leave her to it, but just keep saying no if she tries to pass the things to you.

IamtheDevilsAvocado · 06/12/2020 05:13

What a stressful situation!

I think you need to give her absolutely NO QUARTER!

I wouldn't take ANYTHING from her... Otherwise she'll continue to justify her hoarding on your son's /your behalf! Ah but she took the gym/bike etc...

TheBeastInMsRooneysRoom · 06/12/2020 05:15

Oh OP, I don't have the answer, but you aren't alone! I did smile when you said about the old potty - that sounds exactly like my mum: So sorry but totally compulsive. She literally cannot stop herself. She had one of everything for each grandchild at her house, even though we all had travel high chairs etc. She just needed to do it so badly. It was like a tatty collection.

We moved abroad and she turns up with suitcases full of stale smelling clothes that are far too small for my kids. They've obviously been in storage for donkey's years, but because she hasn't seen them in ages she doesn't realize that they're far too old for me to pick their clothing, let alone gran's taste!

The thing is, I've realized that it is compulsive behaviour and she cannot be happy without palming it off on me. If I don't take it, it eats her up inside. Hoarding is a very complex mental illness and it is literal torture to someone with this condition to have their stuff taken away. I think her giving things to me/my kids is an extension of that, and it's just as hard to have me say 'no that can't be kept at my house' as it is for someone with traditional hoarding issues to have a skip turn up and all their treasure thrown in it. I can't fix her. We just take it, say thanks and throw it in a charity shop. She doesn't even remember what she gave us. It's not like it was special stuff, just garbage bags full.

She has occasionally been mortally offended at things not being here, and we've just said that someone else really needed it. That seems to be good enough to satisfy her needing it to be valuable.

Mummyoflittledragon · 06/12/2020 05:21

This sounds like mental illness. She understands on one level, hence the apology but cannot stop the compulsion. Your childhood sounds really difficult. The only way forward is strong boundaries. You are also going to have to advocate for your child. Can you leave / walk away when she starts?

BefuddledPerson · 06/12/2020 05:24

Oh nightmare!

You don't have to accept this stuff. You are not responsible for whether she listens or not. Anything gifted you can give to charity or the tip.

The posters above with direct experience sound like they know what you're dealing with, you are not alone.

wildraisins · 06/12/2020 05:27

Ugh, that sounds horrible OP!

I'm sure she thinks she is being helpful with all these things but she really isn't! She has some very ingrained ways of thinking/ being by the sound of it, which are very hard to discourage.

Do you think there's a compromise, where she can feel helpful but you are not bombarded with stuff? For example that she is allowed to donate ONE item each month, or ONE second hand thing on your son's birthday?

Then at least it's controllable and you know when to expect things, and you can then just say "thanks!" and throw it away if you don't want it. Also put a limit on the item size so it's not big things like pushchairs?

I don't know - just trying to think of solutions that won't drive everyone crazy or result in big family fall-outs! I certainly don't envy you this situation though, what a nightmare.

isitsnowingyet · 06/12/2020 05:27

@TheBeastInMsRooneysRoom - it sounds like you have infinite patience. Reading between the lines, maybe that's because you moved abroad?

@HarleyQuinn33 That sounds like a tough situation and would quite honestly drive anyone nuts. If you live nearby, it will be a constant battle of refusing items you don't want. Clear but firm boundaries? My Dad was very 'needy' emotionally and would be difficult (to put it mildly) but as I got older I got braver in setting boundaries - I just wished I'd done so many years before.

HarleyQuinn33 · 06/12/2020 05:38

Thank you for your responses. I think you are all right she does have some kind of hoarding complex. But she is also manipulative. When I spoke to her on the phone yesterday I asked her to list everything she had and there were things my dad said she had that she left out. I suspect she did this on purpose because we are meant to be going at Christmas and I think she may repackage some of it as gifts for him Sad

OP posts:
BooseysMom · 06/12/2020 05:41

@TheBeastInMsRooneysRoom.. I think your suggestion is very good..to accept the stuff then charity shop it. Maybe keep one or two of the better items and if she says anything about the rest say someone needed it more and like you say, that may be enough to satisfy her.

I have one DS and have kept a bag of his most special toys and clothes so that when he grows up he can see what he wore and played with but I don't expect him to give them to his kids if he has any. It's up to him.

AlizarinRed · 06/12/2020 05:42

I wonder what happened in her past/childhood to cause this obsession?
Im limited e of one person, it was a distraction from something, a decision she made in her past which she has guilt, I think, rather than regret, for.

Kapalika · 06/12/2020 05:47

My mother is exactly the same. Sometimes it’s like mental torture.
She kept my brother’s milk bottles and tears! Gave them to my SIL. They were 30 years old at the time and the rubber disintegrating.

It’s been going on for so many years, I now just take and either charity shop or bin them. Sometimes I will tell her, if she insists they are going straight in the bin. It hasn’t fazed her.

Kapalika · 06/12/2020 05:48

Teats not tears! Although she’d probably keep them if she could!

Crustmasiscoming · 06/12/2020 05:49

Stand firm on refusing.

My mum is like this and until I emigrated my house was absolutely packed with shite that she foisted upon me. It was miserable living in such a cluttered, crammed place and never being able to enjoy my home or choose nice things for myself. Every inch of space was taken up with stuff she had brought round and dumped on me.

I don't have this problem anymore as I moved to another country. I'm not sure how else you deal with it... but please don't ever feel bad about refusing the stuff very firmly. Don't get sucked in.

38DegreesToday · 06/12/2020 05:51

It sounds like a form of mental illness. If she won’t listen, and will just keep hoarding stuff you are never going to use, then all you can really do is refuse to take it, or take it and offload it to a charity as another poster suggested.

You can’t control what she does and chances are you won’t be able to stop her, but you can control your reaction to it.

HarleyQuinn33 · 06/12/2020 05:55

@AlizarinRed

She had quite a poor childhood. One of 10 children but that being said none of her siblings are like her. She likes to bring up her childhood, especially when I am refusing to accept something she is trying to give me. She is a difficult woman, falls out with people a lot and recently retired amidst fights she was having with her boss.

OP posts:
VettiyaIruken · 06/12/2020 06:00

Sounds awful.
What about saying that you aren't taking anything and if she did dump anything on you it would go straight in the bin.

I know you've said the first bit but put together might help.

I wonder also if ending a phone call if she starts on about this stuff would help you.

Bluetrews25 · 06/12/2020 06:01

Why should OP have to take things and then dispose of them herself? Surely she has enough to keep her very busy at the moment?
Hoarding Mum will never need to stop or change her behaviour if everyone around her just accepts it.
Can she not see that things would be better used by someone who actually wants and needs them? She is removing things from this chain of use to be stored somewhere and ultimately thrown away, hardly environmentally friendly at all. She needs to leave things where those who need them can get them.
Stick to your guns, OP. Don't take any crap....in any sense of the term.

Milliepossum · 06/12/2020 06:11

My MIL used to try to offload all sorts of things, I eventually said I wasn’t going to let her make my house a rats nest like hers then she stopped. I think the hoarding stuff is about control, don’t let her control you OP. She had her time as a mother and made her choices then. Now it’s your turn with your children, not her turn again.

Takethereigns · 06/12/2020 06:31

Don’t accept anything from her.

Say thanks for thinking of me but you don’t need it and feel like you would be depriving someone who is actually in need, please donate it to charity.

Repeat ever single time

Iwonder08 · 06/12/2020 06:38

OP, what does your father say about the situation? Does he think it is inappropriate of your mother?
I think you are way to gentle with your mum. Don't ask her for lists, just don't take anything at all. Inform her from now on your child has everything new, you won't accept donations, tell her you find it disrespectful and very upsetting she undermines you and ignores your wishes. Warn her that any further attempts to give him donated stuff, including Xmas or birthday presents will harm your relationship.