In laws criticising house all the time

[afunnyonejustforfun]

Mumsnet, keep me entertained please, whilst I await my baby in a week or two.

This is funny and I have posted about it before.

We've recently moved to a new place and have had work done. Every time without fail my in laws come around, they criticise everything. It's constant.

They barely ever say anything nice. How can people be so unaware of themselves ? For example : the colours are too light or too dark, the light fittings don't go in the rooms where we've put them, the stairs are too steep or too long. The list goes on. It's basically a constant thing.

I just brush it off ' oh we quite like it like this '. ' oh you think ? I like it '.

How can people be so unaware that they constantly do it ? It really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but it is just that bit annoying that they seem to disapprove of basically everything we do..

[quote stuntbubbles]@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll Not at all: OP can simply make them less steep, less long, and lower the upper level of the house commensurate with the new height of the stairs. It’s only sheer indolence that stops her![/quote]
This made me laugh so much!

Just a sweet smile when they comment with a reply of "How kind of you to notice" and then change the subject.

@picklemewalnuts

I think this comes from a failure to detach from their child. They genuinely struggle to believe their child, the offspring of their loins, their own flesh and blood.... has different opinions from them.

My mother is still trying to make me realise I love Andre Rieu and want to spend my life listening to her spout about herself.
She's truly shocked I don't like the clothes she tries to give me (she's much shorter, older, and at times wider), because she can't quite realise I AM NOT HER.

I think you are spot on here. Some parents see their children as an extension of themselves and find boundaries really hard as they haven’t accepted any degree of power-shift or independence. My OH is going to reach the end of his tether the next time my mum suggests moving to a “naice” town instead of the city we are happy in. Other tactics include asking where my friends and colleagues live and judging them instead. Constant remarks about how rough our community is when it isn’t. There is no pleasing some people.

"Oh bless you, you have such a delightfully old-fashioned sense of style".

or "Hmm, don't want to be rude, but I think tastes in decor have moved on a bit. Fashion sense too