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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Sorry its an MIL one but only a quickie, just say YANBU! ;0)

57 replies

pooexplosions · 12/10/2009 11:57

AIBU...to be pissed off that, it being my DH's first day back at work since our 3rd DC was born 11 days ago and I'm a leetle panicky, the only contribution my MIL has to make is repeatedly asking me "How will you cope?" or "What are you going to do?" ad nauseum?

I mean, either a) offer me some bloody help instead of making me feel completely useless, or
b) shut up, as its completely unhelpful and demoralising even if you think I'm completely useless and can't manage, since I don't have any help and will just have to muddle along and hope for the best.

I normally wouldn't pay the slightest attention, but its really niggling at me. I didn't know I was thought to be that useless.

OP posts:
NanaNina · 12/10/2009 18:22

Sorry Freakname but you haven't "caught me out" as you seem to think, and clearly you are determined to keep up your need to "have a go" at me. I didn't say that I had to "walk on egg shells around my 3rd dil" and YES I do have a friend who has to do this and is also rather scared of this young woman who is rather insecure and unpleasant in my view. I said I "don't have any problems" with my dils because this is true and I explained about my r/ship with my 3rd dil on another thread, which is slightly different from the ones I have with my other 2 dils. Look back on the threads if you are so interested. The fact still remains that I "don't have any problems with my 3 dils" so please can you do as others have suggested and "back off" in your endeavours to discredit me.

freakname · 12/10/2009 19:11

LOL @ Nana

No I said I was confused and that you appeared to be contradicting yourself. You said of your 3rd DIL:
'I have to tread a little carefuly with her as she can be prickly.' You are the one that has been singling her out on various threads
so you can't blame readers for thinking there is a problem.

'caught me out' are your words not mine but perhaps a Freudian slip on your part. Try not to be soo sensitive Nana I was asking you to clarify because it didn't make sense.

I don't think it's necessary to back off either as this is AIBU luvvy and that's how it works.

OldLadyKnowsNothing · 12/10/2009 20:18

NanaNina, I get what you mean about the nasty "go on courses" comments; just hope all the mothers of sons are aware of the need for them.

Freakname, it's perfectly possible for there to be more than one irrational DIL in the world, y'know.

Maybe you're one of them?

NanaNina · 12/10/2009 20:36

Freakname - uggh ........"luvvy" and I have been told for using "oh dear" - hmmm.....I don't intend to engage any further with you as it is pointless and I have better things to do with my time. Incidentally it isn't "readers" who think I have a problem with my 3rd dil - it is you. yes I do have to tread a little carefully as she can be prickly BUT because I DO tread carefully there isn't a problem..........Got it.........no thought not!

Oldladyknowsnothing - agree!!

NanaNina · 12/10/2009 20:37

Freakname - uggh ........"luvvy" and I have been told for using "oh dear" - hmmm.....I don't intend to engage any further with you as it is pointless and I have better things to do with my time. Incidentally it isn't "readers" who think I have a problem with my 3rd dil - it is you. yes I do have to tread a little carefully as she can be prickly BUT because I DO tread carefully there isn't a problem..........Got it.........no thought not!

Oldladyknowsnothing - agree!!

Jamieandhismagictorch · 12/10/2009 21:05

freakname yes this AIBU, but Nana is not the OP, I don't think she's said anything controversial, and it's a bit rude to follow her around threads trying to catch her out

freakname · 12/10/2009 22:35

No ones trying to catch anyone out.
On one thread she said one thing and on another thread she said something that sounded contradictory.
I think it's perfectly normal to ask her to clarify AIBU or not!
OldLadyknowsnothing I am very rational thank you.
Nana you keep double posting - do you need some technical help?

freakname · 12/10/2009 22:37

Nana you think she is prickly but you don't have a problem with her. Thanks for clearing that up.

33k · 12/10/2009 22:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

OldLadyKnowsNothing · 12/10/2009 23:30

Glad to hear it, Freakname.

freakname · 13/10/2009 12:05

@ 33k

pinkfizzle · 16/10/2009 00:58

op yanbu

pinkfizzle · 16/10/2009 01:05

sometimes couples have a joint email address if they are travelling, or say arranging an event - but who really cares ....

2rebecca · 16/10/2009 07:28

Say you'll be fine and avoid her if she's that repetetive. I'd probably say something to her like "I'm not completely useless you know" if it irritated me, but mainly I'd cut down contact time with her.

Mandy1966 · 18/10/2009 14:46

I hope to goodness when my 2 are old enough to have girlfriends/partners/wives that Im not like my MIL..

NanaNina · 18/10/2009 18:15

33K - sorry but your "joke" is far from original - it has been said many times efore by posters on other MIL sites as in "maybe Nana's dils are complaining about her while she is giving advice to other dils" etc etc etc.

I have got to thinking that the only women who come on these MIL threads are DILS who have a poor relationship with their MIl because all posters almost always back up the OP to the hilt when she is complaining about a DIL. My attempts as a MIL and an ex DIl to try to cast a slightly different light on some of these posts is met with defensiveness, rudeness and accusations that I am "behaving like a typical MIL, morphing into a nasty MIL" etc etc etc. Also I feel that posters complaining about MILS are only interested in posts that endorse completely what they are saying, even when posting in AIBU. Maybe it should be re-named something like "I know I am being reasonable and don't anyone come andtell me anything different."

Some of the MIL complaints appear justified but others are plain crazy - a recent one about a MIL writing a story for a GC's school project in "curly font" -mind that poster got her "cumuppence" from other posters. Another one that sticks out in my mind is someone complaining that her miL got a cat when she (the dil) was pregnant which she thought "wierd" and so it goes on.

The thing is we only ever hear the dil's side to these accounts and I believe that there are 2 sides to EVERY story. I think there is only one other MIL on these threads - Oldladyknowsnothing, I know comes on to support me sometimes.

I have a few examples of really unkind dils gleaned from my women friends who are MILs and maybe I ought to post a few but can I be bothered...........oh don't think so .....it doesn't do anything to try to shed some light on this often fraught relationship between 2 women.

All I can say really is that all you mothers of sons (and daughters) will probably be MILs yourself one day and maybe will then have a better idea of some of the difficulties in this r/ship. I have certainly looked back as I've got older and become a GM about how I didn't always understand my MIL and her motives in the past, though I always remained on good terms with her, eventhough we were very different personalities. It IS a 2 way street like any relationship and I just wish this could be acknowledged sometimes.

pinkfizzle · 18/10/2009 22:39

"The thing is we only ever hear the dil's side to these accounts and I believe that there are 2 sides to EVERY story."

In my opinion, you are stating the obvious, and you seem to need a lot of support on the threads that you post - and I don't think bringing in other threads adds any really strength to your arguments.

In terms of the original post - it would not matter to me who the comments were made by, they could have been made by a postman! Look at the context, it being the op's DH's first day back at work since her 3rd DC was born 11 days ago and the MIL has to make is repeatedly asking her "How will you cope?" or "What are you going to do?" - I would not find such comments helpful.

All I can say is that I don't think I need to become a mil myself one day, to have a better idea of what to say to someone with an 11 day old baby.

OldLadyKnowsNothing · 18/10/2009 23:20

I'm not a real MIL, NanaNina, because neither of my boys is married; but one is engaged and the other has a four-month old baby with his GF, so I say I have DIL-ishs.

But you're right, most people here see only the DIL's point of view, and to be fair twenty-odd years ago so would I. I'm not all that close to my MIL, and some things she did when my boys were little upset me, but as the years have passed I've come to realise that "whatever it was" wasn't particularly serious and had only the importance I chose to give it. She's not malicious or ill-intentioned, she just has different priorities from me. I know I'm not the DIL she dreamed of, but hey, I'm what she's got.

Of course, some women are genuinely and quite deliberately unpleasant towards their MILs/DILs/other women generally, but I think the vast majority of upsets are caused through misunderstandings.

And once mums become MILs - and even mothers of daughters do that, though they're less often mentioned here, for obvious reasons - they can start to understand the other side of the coin. Maybe you have to live it to have some empathy?

I'm still very new to this, but I try to have good relationships with my DIL-ishs. I think I'm doing OK with the mother of my DGS, but my other DIL-ish is a sensitive soul and sometimes I worry that I may inadvertantly have upset her; however, I adopt the attitude that if I do upset her, she or my DS should tell me so and not expect me to be bloody psychic! And I think more folk could do with adopting that attitude too; it seems to me that too many mums fizz and fume in private, but don't actually tackle the issue with their MILs, who are left in the dark and so repeat the upsetting behaviour.

You (generalised you, not a personal one) see your DH/DP as a grown man and expect him to take on responsibilities accordingly; your MIL still remembers the wee boy who wet himself in terror on his first day at nursery. It'll be you one day; cut her some slack, eh?

dons fireproof clothing and retreats to a great distance

pooexplosions · 18/10/2009 23:42

I'll just make a small comment as the OP.
I have 3 sons, so I imagine I will be an MIL one day, and I hope that I get on with any DIL's as well as I get on with my MIL. Because on the whole, we do get on well. Our relationship got a little rockier after my children were born, due mainly to the almost inevitable differences in ideas in child rearing and family life, but no real problems. On occasion we rub each other up the wrong way, but on the whole everyhting is fine, and I call my MIL a lot more than my DH does, just for a chat.
THe comment in my OP could have been said by anybody, it was no better or worse because it was my MIL as opposed to anyone else, it was the comment that upset me not her specifically.
And I'm coping just fine (in the main!) and am over it!

OP posts:
NanaNina · 18/10/2009 23:55

OLKNothing - oh so glad to hear your words of wisdom. I think you are right in that you can't understand what it's like to be a MIL or a GP until you have had that experience. Like you I now know that I wouldn't have had much empathy with MILs 40 years ago when my first son was born and my MIL was a little overbearing, but I rode it out and as you say about yours, she was not malicious or anything like that, but we were very different people.

I haev 3 dils and have great r/ship with 2 of them and a reasonably good one with the 3rd, though I have to tread a little carefully as sometimes it can be a bit tricky. She is a little insecure though strangely she is the one who always comes to me if she is upset with her family or friends. I have said this before on posts, only to have dils on here decide that I have a real problem with this dil, saying they feel sorry for her, and wondering if she is one of the posters who gets annoyed with my posts..........oh that one went on for ages on another thread.

You are SO right about women of grown men (and women I'm sure) but I don't have daughters, remembering when they were small children. I have tried on some threads to talk of fleeting feelings of sadness and loss (just like when you maybe look at an old photograph of your child when very young and for a few seconds you wish he was that age again) it soon passes of course and you are glad that he is settled with apartner and lovely children. However I have been heavily criticised for having these feelings...........amazing really, as if we can get into the "rights and wrongs" of feelings and have them evaluated by others.

I can see that some young women have what sound like awful mils but I do worry that others who have poor r/ships with their mils rush to their defence without I suspect any consideration of whether the complaint is valid.

I think I probably will stay away from these threads, because until you have experienced something it isn't really possible to empathise as you say.

Anyway nice to hear from you.

Pinkfizzle - I am puzzled by your comment that I "seem to need a lot of support on my posts" ?? Aren't others looking for support or to have their views endorsed?

cory · 19/10/2009 00:08

Good luck to the OP (who seems very determined to see the positives in her DIL relationship, but just finds the present comments a little difficult).

But I do think Nana has a point when it came to some of the other posts. There are certain generalisations that crop up an awful lot on Mumsnet. One is that MILs are truly awful creatures and that a DIL is almost bound to be right in any disagreement. Another one is the assumption that men are clueless creatures whose task in childrearing is to follow the mother's instructions and who are genuinely pretty helpless at that. I am not sure these generalisations really help that much.

pinkfizzle · 19/10/2009 00:48

to the op - glad to hear that you are coping and that all is good - i hope the inevitable poo explosions are not too spectacular

sticktoyourgins · 19/10/2009 08:14

Nana - thank you for your posts, good to see some balance.

pinkfizzle · 20/10/2009 16:22

nana I have seen your question to me - I was just reacting to your posts on mil threads in general, this quest for others to provide acknowledgement that the mil/dil thing is a 2 way street, that so many people supposedly generalise about mils and so on and so on, such as asking if there are other mils out there.
Yes I am sure others look to have their views endorsed.

I don't agree that you need to experience something to empathise. A lot of these threads are about respect for others and being thoughtful and not judging or the lack of those qualities.

NanaNina · 20/10/2009 18:40

Hmm Pinkfizzle - "respect for others, thoughtfulness and not judging" - don't see a great deal of that in posts about MILs on these threads. I can't see what the problem is about asking if there are other mils to join the debate - or are these threads only for DILs to complain about MILs without anyone attempting to provide a little balance about this often fraught relationship.