I lOVE my mother in law

[duchesse]

My mother in law is fab. She's not easy to live with (I know that because we lived with her for 10 years) but she is just lovely and here's why:

1. She adores the children and has a lovely relationship with them
2. She has her own very active life but never fails to fit us in somewhere
3. She is a fount of common sense and wisdom on many topics and is extremely competent in many many areas
4. She interferes just the right amount now that we are no longer living together

Yes, she is not easy to live with (she specialised in mixed messages and undermining us subtly as parents when we were living together, and I would cheerfully have throttled her at times). Yes, she finds it difficult to see anyone doing anything without wanting to join in/ take over (traits I now see appearing in my 14 yo, so not so much MIL traits as competent woman traits). Yes, she is ruthlessly efficient to the point of neglecting detail at times.

But, see points 1-4 above. They outweigh anything else. She has lived through the death of a 21 yo son and her husband. My husband is her only child, our 4 children her only grandchildren. She feels blessed to have them, and we feel enriched by her presence in our lives.

YANBU.

YANBU.
I love my MIL as well

YANBU. I love my MIL too, she's great. Kind, generous, never ever inteferes and babysits whenever she has space in her busy social life that I am seethingly jealous in awe of.

YANBU. I love my MIL too. Not only does she love my children and have a great relationship with them, she also does not think the sun shines out of DH's arse, and sometimes sides with me when we're having a argument discussion

And she buys me lovely gifts for my birthday and Christmas too.

YANBU - I love my MIL, but she does get on my nerves sometimes, as does my dh who I also love.

I think it is entirely possible to love someone and overlook their flaws and enhance their good points - that's successful marriage if you ask me for a start. No one's perfect!

My MIL isn't awful, she's just one of those people who relates to you only on her terms. Which means you can't ever have what I consider a proper relationship with her. So I am deeply .

Well done for posting positive MIL threads, though!

YANBU - I have a wonderful MIL too - sometimes confuses the hell out of me, but her good points way outweigh the odd ones. Couldn't have coped with the kids or DP if we didn't have her (at one point years ago we were considering splitting up, but couldn't agree who would tell MIL so stuck it out and things are wonderful now )

I love my MIL.

She gives great advice but always knows when to take a step back.

She worries about us but in a good way

She was a complete rock when I lost my own mother and has done hundreds of small things to try to help fill that gap, without ever pretending to take her place.

She brought up all her kids (but especially DH ) to be loving, happy, independent and caring. If I can do the same by my children I'll be happy. Everything else is just window-dressing.

I've never met mine

Is that good or bad, tethersend?

I've never met my FIL, DH hasn't spoken to him to years, it's quite sad really because I'm adopted so MIL is the only biological grandparent DS has that I actually know. She's lovely too. YANBU

I don't love my MIL, but I do like her. She is one of the most forthright women I've ever met - if she has a thought, she shares it with you. Which can be good or bad, but either way I find quite admirable.

Mine can be pretty vile to me, but she's a brilliant mum to DH and she absolutely dotes on our DCs. So I can tolerate the odd bit of sniping at me (on a good day )

YANBU - I love my MIL too.

I think it's good... she's never shown any interest in meeting me or her GD. Never even spoken on the phone. This indicates to me that she perhaps 'has issues'.

Sad for DP though.

Good for you, she and you sound great

I love mine as well. It took a while, I was the first outsider to enter the family and we are both extremely pig headed strong willed but after a few years of struggles it suddenly came right and now we're best of friends. I'm very lucky, for a long time I thought it was going to be horrible.

Love mine.

One of her children is the love of my life and the other is quite close to being my "best" friend. She clearly knows how to raise children.

Was welcomed from the very first meeting and treats me like another daughter. She thinks my son is the be all and end all.

What more could you ask?

Nice thread. I'm very fond of my mil too

That's lovely - thanks for sharing a positive MIL experience!

I think we all fancy ourselves as that MIL one day in the future, even though the evidence is overwhelmingly to the contrary.

I love mine.

DOn't always like the way she expresses her opinions wrt weaning/bfing/potty training etc.

But I do love her.

You are all very lucky to feel that way about your MIL's. I really tried with mine and would have loved to have a great relationship with her but unfortunately in her eyes there was only room for one woman in DH's life and that was her.
She bent over backwards to be nasty to me and did everything in her power to come between us and split us up. Fortunately DH saw through her evil ploy. He gave her a chance after chance to stop the nonsense but she never gave up and eventually backed him into a corner where he had to choose between her or me . He hasn't spoken to her for nearly 3 years now.

Everyone gets on each others nerves at one time or another whether you are related to them or not.
If it's someone in your own family ie your own mother that has said something out of turn or has annoyed you I think you are more likely to say something but with a DIL/MIL relationship you may not feel as inclined to say anything and I think this is where most of the problems stem from. Unless of course there is no hope like with me and my MIL.

Cherish your relationship with your MIL's whether they annoy you at times or not because it's got to be better than having bad feeling between you all the time. It's stressful and very unpleasant and I wish nearly every day that me and my MIL got on, not just for me but for DH too.

What a lovely thread-I love my d-i-l ad both sd-i-l.Oh and my s-i-l too

Mine's fab too! I'm very, very lucky.....she is great to chat too, has great advice when you want it but never interferes or criticises. Sometimes i think she steps back too far!

Kids think the world of her too, as does DH ! Good job since she lives round the corner

My MIL is great. She comes to stay especially to look after DD, does the washing up, buys us a takeaway and then goes away. DD loves her and always learns how to do something new when she's here.

She does this even though I know that as a Christian she totally disapproves of me and DP being unmarried and having a baby together. She has made her feelings clear (fair enough) but has kept her gob shut very tactfully.

Hurray for lovely MILs! I know some are not.

Sorry to hear that mampam

Stupidly it's my mum that we have the frosty relationship with....so if DH was on here he'd not be saying the same!!