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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Not wanting MIL to spend too much time with my DD

36 replies

Ladysledge · 08/07/2010 12:30

I don't worry at all when my 14mo DD is with my Mum, or even spends the night with her. But if my DH mentions his Mum having her for the night, I freak out and panic. I have no idea why. She's brought up 3 kids. Admittedly they have no manners and don't speak very well and they had an awful childhood but she's lovely now. Does anybody else freak out about their children going to the MIL?

OP posts:
mamaloco · 08/07/2010 12:35

yes, but mine thinks it is OK for them to try knifes and other gentle experiments. They will learn not to play with it if they cut themselves! she had 4 other GCs but none were as curious, active or imaginative as my DD as toddlers so I was seriously scared!

insertwittynicknameHERE · 08/07/2010 12:36

Yes I do and I get on with my MIL . But then again I feel like that when anyone other than DH & myself have our DD's. (I have anxiety and OCD and am a born worrier)

Maybe just suggest that MIL take your DD for a morning/afternoon a couple of times a week for a while. This will help your DD become accustomed to seeing MIL more and help ease you into the situation.

thesecondcoming · 08/07/2010 12:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ladysledge · 08/07/2010 12:42

She does have my DD every Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. But if DH suggests his mum looks after her for even a couple of hours at the weekend I find every excuse not to. And as for staying over night, I hate just thinking about it!!

OP posts:
Theochris · 08/07/2010 12:44

So does she look after her while you work?

Morloth · 08/07/2010 12:45

What is the difference between the weekends and the weekdays? Does she suddenly become irresponsible on the weekend?

Also, if her child raising skills are so crap how come you married the outcome?

Weird.

PosieParker · 08/07/2010 12:46

I loathe my MIL and FIL, they are not my cup of tea and they think I'm a controlling feminist....oh how we laugh!!

Ladysledge · 08/07/2010 12:46

Yes, unfortunately I have to work full time. DD goes to a childminder the rest of the time. MIL has her 2 mornings and my mum has her 1 afternoon a week. I think its because she was a terrible mum to her kids (she will say that herself, and my DH says that too) but she's really good with DD. So I don't understand why I feel this way. I get on well with her. But she doesn't respect me when I say things like make sure you put suncream on DD, or don't put salt on any food you give her, she goes against everything i say!

OP posts:
Morloth · 08/07/2010 12:47

So how come you leave here there on the work days?

Ladysledge · 08/07/2010 12:49

The other thing is, i work 8.30 to 5.30 every day and I worked out that I see my daughter for less hours a week than the childminder does and this upset me, I worry that she'll grow up learning from then rather than from me, and I appreciate every second I get with her at the weekend so why would I want someone else to look after her at the weekends when I'm not working?

OP posts:
diamondsandtiaras · 08/07/2010 12:49

from the other side of the fence........I have no one to look after my DDs overnight.....my mum says "not until they're older" whenever I have asked and my MIL is disabled and so unable to. I would grasp all offers with open arms in your situation

Theochris · 08/07/2010 12:49

Hmm you see the thing is she is providing free childcare for you. So really you should cut her some slack and be pleased that she wants to see your DD more.

As long as your DD likes her and enjoys her time with her, then I'm afraid yabu. Does she really go against everything you say? If this is the case why do you let her look after her 2 mornings a week?

Ladysledge · 08/07/2010 12:50

I leave her there on work days because I respect the fact the my DD is her DGD and she has a right to some time with her. And if anything were to happen, I'd have a reason to stop her looking after her.

OP posts:
Ladysledge · 08/07/2010 12:51

So I should relax a bit more and let her have more time with her?

OP posts:
Morloth · 08/07/2010 12:53

You don't have to if you don't want to. But it is a bit cheeky to slate her and then use her when it is convenient for you.

Theochris · 08/07/2010 12:53

I do understand that you want to have as much weekend time as poss with her, but you do need to be even handed between grandparents unless there is a good reason not to (safety or your DD not liking her).

Ladysledge · 08/07/2010 12:56

I'm not slating her - she's great, a great cook, good in the garden etc. But she did expect to be paid for her time looking after her DGD. She doesn't understand that we have got our DD in a routine, she questions everything i do and makes me feel like a bad mum.

OP posts:
Morloth · 08/07/2010 13:02

There is nothing wrong with wanting your DD to yourself on the weekends BTW, when I was working we regularly turned down invites from Mum/MIL for DS.

But if you trust her for through the week you can't then say you don't trust her on the weekend.

Morloth · 08/07/2010 13:03

Also I think it is fine to want to be paid for long term regular childcare, we used to pay the IL's $50 for the day that they would have DS through the week.

clemetteattlee · 08/07/2010 13:10

Surely what you are saying is you don't want to use childcare at the weekends when you have a chance to be with your child all day. That sounds entirely reasonable to me.

I also don't beleive that if GPs are providing childcare for free then they should be able to do things that are dangerous. It has taken us five years to get to the point where both I and the grandmothers acknowledge that we are ALL doing each other a favour. But weekends are my time with my children...

thesecondcoming · 08/07/2010 13:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Rollergirl1 · 08/07/2010 13:59

I have to admit that I did used to feel a bit like this about my MIL. I still do a teeny little bit, but not anywhere near as much as I used to. I know it is unfair of me because DD absolutely idolises her Granny and MIL is utterly amazing with all her GC's. But my issues were that MIL was just so intense and full-on around my DD and it used to freak me out. DD was the first grandchild and also the first girl (MIL had 4 boys) so I think that contributed a lot. There were a fair few incidents that I was just not comfortable with: referring to herself as 'Mummy' on a number of occassions to my DD being one, setting up the travel cot in her room so "that we could have a lie-in" when DD was about 6 months when we went to stay once was another, and going awol with her on long walks and not answering her phone so we didn't know where she was being another.

She also had a tendancy to invite herself to stay for a week at a time without asking me if it was okay.

Now she has 3 more GC's (my DS being one of them) and she has chilled sooo much more. Although DD is still the apple of her eye. But I think also I have chilled out about it too and have released my grip on DD a bit more. I think I used to respond to MIL's intensity around DD by withdrawing and becoming hyper-sensitive and reading something into everything. I would say that relations between us were very fraught for a time but now we have settled in to an open and warm friendship and I really value and respect my MIL.

Ladysledge · 08/07/2010 14:27

Rollergirl1 that sounds exactly what I am like! That gives me great comfort. I'm sure I will become more relaxed in time as well. Everybody says you're a lot more relaxed when you have your second baby so hopefully when we have the next one I will feel a lot better!

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Rollergirl1 · 08/07/2010 14:51

Ladysledge: I really do think that the MIL/DIL relationship is fraught with danger and can be a tough cookie to crack. It is an un-natural relationship right from the start because it is another hugely important female role-model in your life that is not your Mum. And so with that comes issues of control, manipulation, defensiveness, judgement, etc.

Then when you throw grandchildren into the mix it takes on a whole other level!

I think initially I felt quite sad at how the relationship I had with my MIL completely changed once DH and I had children. It was like she wasn't interested in me as a person anymore. Everything revolved around DD, all conversation, any visits, all about her. It was like I just stopped being a person in my own right to MIL anymore and I existed purely as mother to her Grandchild. That took a lot of getting used to.

But also there is such an element of both MIL and DIL feeling around in the dark, trying to reach some common ground, not wanting to upset the other one or step on the others toes. You just don't get that with your own mother, or at least I didn't. I felt like MIL was judging my capabilities as a mother. But in hindsight it was just her not knowing what to say or do to me and me being over-sensitive and paranoid about what she was saying to me.

You just have to feel your way through it and come out the other side. Having another child does make it easier I think. Because you have both been there before and are both a little bit more knowledgeable.

Good luck, I am sure it will get better!

PhDMum · 08/07/2010 14:51

Wow. Rollergirl, I could have written your post - all except for the last bit where you have made peace with you MIL and things are better now!

If I could just gt my MIL to stop spoon feeding my DD on her lap when she comes round for dinner, assuming that she is in charge and that anything I say re. childcare is best ignored... perhaps she might get to see her GC more often...

I just have had a second baby btw ladysledge, and personally I have found the situation more intense (but then I can be prickly at the best of times)

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