To think a week is too long for visitors

[princesspadam]

My mother is staying for a whole week! We haven’t spent time in the same house for about 10 years as I always stay in a hotel if I visit her (rarely) (not a great relationship as she’s narcissistic and very demanding). She hasn’t been particularly great since she arrived

but we’ve moved and she pretty much demanded a week stay as we now have more space

it’s only Tuesday and she doesn’t go until Friday 😩 and DP thought I was being mean but then admitted he couldn’t live for a week with his mother staying either.

i just feel like I can’t relax, she wants constant attention. Last night I got home from my two jobs at 6.30, cooked dinner, did the ironing, had a shower and went to bed which she was moody about

AIBU that a week is too long for most house guests??? Or maybe just mothers?

@TheCurious0range why is my bed time rude? I have a demanding job and am out of the house over 12 hrs.
if I could stay up later I would but I’m shattered after work, cooking etc

Depends on the guest. I've had my brother and my MIL visit for several weeks (at different times) and they are both a delight to have in the house. Good company, helpful with housework, happy to have some alone time. My Mum is also good company and helpful but tends to be judgemental and opinionated about how I do things (e.g. she disapproves of DH cooking) so a shorter visit of up to a week is better. My BIL and SIL are not helpful, want constant attention and are very opinionated so, e.g. BIL changes the radio station when I'm listening to it to something he prefers and will interrupt someone else's story to tell his story. So 4 hours is too much time with him. Thankfully he shows very little inclination to visit us.

It's impossible to entertain for a full week while working and living normal life.

'Visitors are like fish, they smell after 3 days'
Wise old words, timeless advice.
In the case if my ILs edit to 3 hours

I think an hour is too long for visitors.

I think you are very patient.
I can't bear having house guests.
We have 1 woman, old friend of dp, who very occasionally meets him up town, stays over and goes back up north early next morning.
I've never met her.
Ideal house guest!

Well I did lose the plot a bit last nite after I had come in, made two meals, emptied the dishwasher and put a wash on, when I sat down and started eating she said ‘could you just get me some more wine, I mean I know I could get it myself’

my response was ‘well why don’t you then’!

honestly I feel emotionally drained! I need a weekend in a dark room on my own 😂 thank god it’s over today

I live the other side of the country from my parents so when they visit it's planes trains and automobiles and they will stay a week. As we only see each other 3/4 times a year I'm grateful for that time as are the children.
When we go to them sometimes we stay 10 days and their house is smaller than ours - I'd like to think they weren't counting the days until we leave

I feel your pain.
We have visitors from abroad who totally outstay their welcome. Each time they threaten to travel for a couple of nights- there is so much to see in Scotland- which would break the overwhelmingness of it, and each time they don’t. Last time they were saying at the end that it must be difficult to have visitors for so long and I just stayed silent. They have little perception of how to be good guests and have not offered to replenish any food stuff or do any shopping ( they have a car).
Thing is I love my cousin but her DH is a dick and by the end of it - well actually by Day3-4 - I just want them both gone and never to see them again.

I used to live abroad and my parents would visit a couple of times a year for a week and I loved it. Never expected them to do any cooking or cleaning as they played with my dc. I do think people at the age of 80 can be very different eg my parents are 82 and df does a lot of volunteering, leads the Remberance parade and plays Santa at the Christmas Fayre whereas my friend's dm is a similar age and is housebound and needs a lot of care.