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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

In laws - emotional claustropobia?

34 replies

Willsheorwontshe · 29/12/2023 08:28

My in laws make me feel emotionally claustrophobic. Best way i can describe it. Started when we got engaged in 2018- they were just really overbearing. Had to put in some boundaries very politely, which went as well as it could, yet, having just told them we are expecting, I'm getting these same feelings again.I'm terrified of what their expectations might be. I make much effort but MIL is really serious, always making comments about not seeing us enough, is really intense and I just feel that underneath she hates that I've put boundaries in place and wishes he'd married the girl next door rather than me perhaps. My biggest fear is that I'm going to lose it with MIL one day (she does overstep the mark at times). Does anyone else get these kind of feelings and how do you not let it get to you? How do I accept them for what they are and not let them get to me? I struggle to embrace them and not feel overwhelmed and panicky.

OP posts:
rochethenut · 29/12/2023 08:29

how often do you see them?

rochethenut · 29/12/2023 08:29

it is very odd
you do not once mention your husband

Mintygoodness · 29/12/2023 08:31

Look into Emotional Incest and Copendency and keep your boundaries in place.

herewegoroundthebastardbush · 29/12/2023 08:31

Impossible to know without any proper information/examples whether you a being unreasonable. Being cryptic is seldom the route to useful advice.

Lighrbulbmo · 29/12/2023 08:35

For instance … it’s not possible to comment from the info

Mintygoodness · 29/12/2023 08:41

Emeshment is the one I meant.

Emotional Incest is when a parent treats a child emotionally more like a partner and relies on them and expects them to be available in ways that are appropriate for your partner not your child (discussing adult topics, expecting the child to help resolve issues, expecting the child to emotionally comfort the parent etc).

Emeshment is when some families are extremely overinvolved in each other's lives to the point that they struggle to be separate people.

Willsheorwontshe · 29/12/2023 08:47

@rochethenut when my husband and I first got together they expected us to see them every weekend. In addition, they would constantly make comments about not seeing us enough. I ended up having a chat with them about their expectation of how much we saw them, and that it seemed too much. FIL totally understood, MIL didn't like it. I would say that now i see them perhaps twice a month (and try to be supportive if they need help with anything as and when) but my husband sees them once a week (he goes on his own).

OP posts:
rochethenut · 29/12/2023 08:49

if you think it’s bad now

just you wait until you have children

deal with it now or resign yourself to a very difficult life

rochethenut · 29/12/2023 08:49

2x a month doesn’t sound to too

make it once perhaps

GreatGateauxsby · 29/12/2023 08:50

Did they see your DH every weekend prior to you two meeting?

SutWytTi · 29/12/2023 08:52

Why are you having these conversations? They are your husband's parents, he should discuss.

What does he think?

Sparkletastic · 29/12/2023 08:53

Is DH an only child of older parents?

justalittlesnoel · 29/12/2023 08:58

Sounds absolutely fine, they see DH every week and you every other week. Doesn't sound abnormal! Is it super guilt trip style comments or?

saraclara · 29/12/2023 08:58

If they're reasonably local, twice a month doesn't sound bad, with your DH popping in more often.

Lalalanding · 29/12/2023 08:59

Oh God @Willsheorwontshe I feel this feeling from a sister in law. She is very dependent on others to meet her needs, and she is very demanding and controlling plus she vents about her issues nearly constantly. Eventually I felt that claustrophobic smothered way you feel, she was more demanding of my time when she was around than my children are. I stepped fully back from her to the extent that I told her she needs to sort absolutely everything through my husband from now and I clearly expressed my issues to him where he needed to start stepping up. He is better able to tell her to fuck off when she is being overbearing.

Willsheorwontshe · 29/12/2023 09:38

Not trying to be cryptic, just didnt want it to be so long.

Examples include the expectation that we would be seeing them once a week when we first got together (we both work full time).

The expectation that my MIL would be coming with us as a couple to choose things for our new home, decisions that we just needed to make together without any input from anyone else. If we need help we do ask, but are capable of making our own decisions aged late 30s, mid 40's at the time.

The fact that she thought she would be over at our house every 2 minutes e.g DH and I bought a new bed, she had only been over at our house 2 days before it was delivered and I get a message asking specifically if she can come over again just to see the bed! It's just all abit intense!

The comments (that still happen now) about not seeing us enough e.g recently hosted in laws, bils, sils and nieces at our house for my husbands bday and afterwards had a text from MIL saying it was nice but emphasising how rare it is that everyone gets together (unless you live in their pockets they don't like it).

Pressure from MIL to me e.g. my mum was in a music concert that DH and I were going to one afternoon and after the concert we were going for a celebratory meal with my mum in a location far away from inlaws house. My MIL tried to pressure me to go to MILs house after the concert to see her, FIL and BILs and SILs who were going that afternoon. Inlaws house is no where near the concert. Why should I rush what was my mums afternoon/time and celebration to get back to my inlaws for no particular reason?for context my mum lives alone and I was the only one supporting her at the concert.

If MIL texts with an Invitation to something, she'll be on the phone straight after following it up with a call straight away to understand if we are going- again its intense and you feel badgered.

Other examples include when we got engaged and my DH had a plan to take me to London to get a ring made for me (it was the most beautiful gesture) and everyone bar one lady at work (who was grumpy) and my MIL were positive about it. MIL whispered in my ear 'you don't have to buy one'. It felt as if she really didn't want me to get the ring.

MIL also hankers after things that my DH buys me. E.g such as beautiful pair of earrings he bought me which she made it clear she wanted. It just felt weird.

She will often want to buy the exact same things we buy for the house, which I find a little odd. I guess I'm used to my own mum saying 'oh I won't get that as I know you've got the exact same thing'. It's like my own mum gives me space to be more independent.

There are more examples. I think historically my DH, who didn't marry me he was 45 and I late 30s had always been a yes person and I think I've come in and gone, no I'm not saying yes to everyone and everything and they don't like it.

A good example was just the other day when my FIL commented that my BILs had moaned a bit to him that my DH hadn't been able to do certain things they wanted him to do. For context we have been going through a lot with this pregnancy so have had to make some changes to our lifestyle, but in any event DH sees them both every week at the football and then any other social occasions that happen. I don't understand what more people want from us.

I understand historically pre me, that MIL has tried to control DH and that DH did reach breaking point.

There are other examples, but what do you think? AIBU? Any advice for keeping things in check going forward and not letting it worry me?

OP posts:
Spirallingdownwards · 29/12/2023 09:46

I guess that they are just more used to having him around if he hasn't had a partner until mid 40s.

I would take the wanting similar things to you as a form of flattery and that she likes your taste.

I do think she may have gotten used to the fact your DH may never have had kids so potentially this grandchild is going tk be a big draw. I think perhaps starting conversations around expectations now should happen to manage this.

Willsheorwontshe · 29/12/2023 09:49

@justalittlesnoel it's just constant, oh we hardly ever see you.... Oh hello stranger...Oh we hardly ever get together ( I have a family that hardly gets together for many reasons including divorce and fall out). They have no concept of what hardly seeing someone is, nor any concept of families with issues. They don't know how lucky they are to have what they have, but it's still not enough . It's baffling.

OP posts:
SutWytTi · 29/12/2023 09:52

I would focus on being breezy and ignoring her.

Your DH deals with all arrangements.

Dial down the amount of headspace you give this.

Willsheorwontshe · 29/12/2023 09:55

@GreatGateauxsby yes I think he said yes to all invites pre me, from what I can tell. He understands where I'm coming from and supports as best he can, whilst keeping the balance.

OP posts:
Santaisscouringindeedfornewjob · 29/12/2023 09:57

Has she got your mobile number op? I fobbed mil off from having mine and it made for a slightly easier life. If she rang the house phone I made dc answer it and hand it to dh. Wean her off you both now before your dc arrives. Or she will me sat outside the deliver room and expecting to have dc every weekend at her house...

Loopytiles · 29/12/2023 10:01

You’re being far too soft on your H: he sounds enmeshed and like he hasn’t ‘separated’ from his parents, even in his late 40s.

Lalalanding · 29/12/2023 10:02

Santaisscouringindeedfornewjob · 29/12/2023 09:57

Has she got your mobile number op? I fobbed mil off from having mine and it made for a slightly easier life. If she rang the house phone I made dc answer it and hand it to dh. Wean her off you both now before your dc arrives. Or she will me sat outside the deliver room and expecting to have dc every weekend at her house...

This is brilliant advice. The next one is if she calls over be going somewhere and don’t let her in and start saying no to requests. Parents like this train their children to meeting their needs as their primary focus from very early in childhood so your husband might need some deprogramming in that regard.

Santaisscouringindeedfornewjob · 29/12/2023 10:07

We had ils over every Monday.. Arrival time was 8 20 am. Fucking insane i tell you. They sometimes came extra days uninvited so I would get on with my day. If that meant taking dc out then I did. They were my dc to enjoy also not toys for them. Mil hated me. I cared not a jot.

CuriousGeorge80 · 29/12/2023 10:14

I completely understand OP. I have a MIL like this who I got later in life (gone 35) and I find it utterly suffocating. It is about control. It is much worse since we had a child and she thinks she is the only one who knows how to parent her. She undermines me all the time as a parent and I have to be very strong in response. My DP does her best to support me but the whole family are completely conditioned to being 100% controlled by her so it’s very hard.

My advice is to ensure you keep your distance emotionally, keep your boundaries very strong and absolute, and pick your battles from there. I constantly get dictated to about what I am going to eat for example, but although it irritates me I let it go almost always. Whereas there are other things that I will not give on. It’s very tiring. I hate her.

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