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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

For those who have followed my SIL threads, things have gotten a whole lot worse and I am so upset...

167 replies

Northerner · 19/09/2006 14:45

Deep breath.

So SIL asks me to ahve her kids 3 weekends in a row for sleepover, I say no, we'll do 2. 3 is too many.

She gets upset and speaks to MIL. MIL tells me SIL is upset. I am cross, MIL tells me to let SIL calm down.

Have spoken to SIL today who has called a meeting for me and her at her house tonight as she is upset and dissapointed in things I have been saying to MIL about her. What MIL has told her God only knows. Yes I have moaned about her in the past, but so has MIL, so why has she been stirring the s**t?

Have phone MIl she denied all knowledge and called us silly little girls, said she's sick of being in the middle and 'she'll see me around sometime'

I am so upset at work, and now have to face my SIL at her house tonight.

What a F**k up.

OP posts:
ssd · 20/09/2006 07:37

well?

FrannyandZooey · 20/09/2006 07:41

Also waiting...

Ivor, never fear, I will be there waiting with kindly advice and firm wisdom (it is so ruddy easy to sort out other people's inlaw problems )

SherlockLGJ · 20/09/2006 07:57

LGJ drums her fingers and waits. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Northerner · 20/09/2006 08:02

Oh this is so nice knowing you were all rooting for me. I didn't get hom etill 11.30pm, and ovb had to fill in dh. I was tired, and emotionall exhausted, but I got a good night sleep and am feeling clearer about things today.

SIL and BIL are unhappy and dissapointed in us. The catalyst being that we said no to on eof their requests. It seems she spoke to MIL about this, MIL mentioned we have moaned in the past (as has she but she failed to mention this) and she exxagerated a few things and made us out to be nasty, and SIL to be victim. MIL has relly f**ked things up here. She has givven SIL ammo to feel hurt, in the wrong etc instead of taking a good long look at herself and her requests. It turns out SIL was not upset with me saying no (how good of her) but the way I said it. It was too cold and hurtful, and she would never say no to us. Differenece in we would never ask them for 3 weekends in a row so that is not an argument.

As they own MIL flat she needs to keep them sweet and score points, I think we have been victims in her game. Last week they called her to a meeting to discuss the future of her flat as they had been considering seling it - effectively leaving her with no option but to live in a mobile home. Hence MIL has always bent over backwards to help them out but moaned to us about it.

My ds is currently at school 9am - 12pm till January, so MIL is picking up ds at 12pm 2 days a week while we are at work. I found out last night she is unhappy with this and feels we are putting on her So she'll help them out to allow them weeks away, weekends away, dinner dances etc but for us to go to work no.

So I am left with a HUGE mess. TRying to rebuild a relationship with SIL who feels hurt (err, what about me?) a MIL who quite frankly can rot in hell, and I now need to re organise childcare for ds because there is no way I am allowing her to do it.

And I have to go to work today.

Phew.

You are all lovely btw

OP posts:
Northerner · 20/09/2006 08:05

Also found out MIL slags off me and dh to SIL/BIL and slags off my parents because they are 'different'.

FWIW my mum and dad live on a council estate, and I can only magine what she says about them My parents might not talk or look like MIL but they are worth 10000 of her.

OP posts:
wartywarthog · 20/09/2006 08:05

holy cow what a pita! she needs to get some perspective. and how can they just turf mil out with nowhere to go? amazing how some people can be so awful.

FrannyandZooey · 20/09/2006 08:06

I think the more you can entangle your lives and your childcare arrangements from these people, the better Northerner

So sorry to hear all this

wartywarthog · 20/09/2006 08:06

so your mil, who lives in accomodation that someone else pays for feels she can look down on your parents? she sounds a pretty nasty person tbh.

FrannyandZooey · 20/09/2006 08:06

aargh

the more you can unentangle

sorry

FrannyandZooey · 20/09/2006 08:07

disentangle?

ggglimpopo · 20/09/2006 08:08

Message withdrawn

NotQuiteCockney · 20/09/2006 08:11

Ugh, what a mess. I'd disentangle yourself, as Franny suggests.

Your MIL is really stuck, what with the financial situation. Another reason why complicated family/money arrangements are a Bad Idea.

theunknownrebelbang · 20/09/2006 08:13

So easy for both MIL and SIL to use you as a scapegoat.

soapbox · 20/09/2006 08:16

Northener, I am smirking at the way in which your MIL thinks she is a cut above your parents, yet is effectively homeless with the spectre of living in a mobile home looming over her!

I am sorry you are having these problems, as others have said, disentangle yourself from them completely. No more favours asked nor granted!

The DHs can meet up and see their Mum on normal terms and your DH can take your DS to see her if he wishes to. But for you a massive cooling off period with SIL and MIL is called for, I think.

How dare you be made to feel bad for extending endless babysitting cover without complaint! Silly Moo that she is!

tissy · 20/09/2006 08:40

ok, here's an idea - how about you offering your MIL somewhere to stay when SIL and BIL chuck her out...in exchange for looking after your ds in the afternoons....and of course, you won't therefore have room for SIL/BIL's kids...?

(OK maybe I'll take my tongue out of my cheek now)

Miaou · 20/09/2006 08:41

Northerner, sorry it turned out like this. Don't feel too bad about it - their attitude towards you means that this situation was bound to arise sooner or later. You were being taken advantage of and your efforts were never going to be appreciated or fairly reciprocated.

I'm glad your dh and his brother can rise above it - a sense of perspective on both sides is a huge advantage and may help it all to settle down in time.

Have a ((hug))

Pruni · 20/09/2006 08:48

Message withdrawn

batters · 20/09/2006 08:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FoghornLeghorn · 20/09/2006 08:52

Northerner I agree with Franny though, although it may not be easier making alternative arrangements for DS, I most certainly wouldn't let him go to MIL's for those 2 days - if it is such a hardship for her to help out for a couple of hours twice a week then sod her - she obviously knows which side her bread is buttered.

With regard to SIL, this is so hard - I have been through this with one of my SIL's (over a bridesmaid dress) and it was such a difficult situation, she is my brothers wife and basically wrote me a letter saying exactly what she wanted, but she got my response back, I was the bad guy. Needless to say, she ended up punching my mum at the end of my wedding (I wasn't there or she would've ended up in the lake).
Although I don't have any advice for you apart from having as little to do with her as possible while still maintaining a relationship with your nieces and nephews and BIL, I do sympathise, completely.

Pruni · 20/09/2006 08:54

Message withdrawn

FoghornLeghorn · 20/09/2006 09:01

That is just the type of person she is though - funnily enough, I use the phrase "Needless to say" quite often when I'm talking about her.

Thanks - The cheeky bitch still had the balls to get up and have breakfast with us the next day as we knew nothing about it at that point

catsmother · 20/09/2006 09:07

I can't say I'm surprised at what happened. All these people being summonsed to various meetings, SIL obviously thinks herself a cut above the rest, let alone the 2-faced MIL.

As everyone else has said and as you yourself recognise, it's probably best to keep completely out of any family childcare arrangements. How hurtful though that MIL didn't feel she could say to you that looking after DS 2 afternoons isn't what she wants to do and had to bitch about it instead. As you say, she's entitled to her opinions but it must stick in your throat when it's work you're talking about whilst at the same time she is apparently happy to look after SIL's kids for weeks on end, so they can go on holiday as a couple.

And what a nasty person that shows SIL to be ..... she may have provided somewhere for your MIL to live but by the sounds of it that's no way guaranteed for the future anyhow and in the meantime, MIL is emotionally blackmailed. You can see why she'd want to keep them sweet but why that also has to involve slagging you off I don't know. Sounds like she's a weak person.

I personally wouldn't ever babysit SIL's kids again. They've already had huge favours from you, yet this has blown up because you've said a rare "no". Said in a "hurtful manner" ..... what the heck is that about ? Were you supposed to weep and wail at your inability to be properly servile to her and wear a cloth shirt ? She sounds like a spoilt madam who's used to getting what she wants, when she wants and doesn't consider other people whatsoever. From her reaction it's obvious she wasn't asking in the accepted sense, she was telling you that you were going to have her kids 3 weeks in a row.

Well maybe it's about time she woke up to the real world where most of us barely ever manage a weekend away, let alone 6 holidays a year on top without the kids as well. You have nothing to feel guilty about in this - you've done more than your fair share of enabling her to live it up ..... and if that means she won't sit your kids, well, it doesn't sound like you'd notice TBH.

You sound like a lovely caring person worrying about SIL's hurt but I think if you go bowing and scraping to her, acknowledging her "hurt" (over what exactly), you will only end up reinforcing the image she has of you as some inferior servant, who was in the wrong over this. If I were you I would be civil when our paths crossed, but you have nothing to make up and you shouldn't act as if you do.

SIL and MIL sound well suited to one another really. MIL's happy to effectively "sell-out" by dishing the "dirt" on you, feeding SIL's sense of superiority. SIL sounds completely up herself ..... she has no right to say she's "disappointed" in you because you were assertive ....... who the hell does she think she is, your bloody headmistress ?

I wonder how genuine talk of selling your mum's flat is ? Methinks last week's summons could have been an object in keeping her "on her toes", and making it clear which side her bread's buttered on. Nasty.

What you need to concentrate on now is finding childcare where DS will be happy. SIL's "hurt" doesn't matter. If you acknowledge that this superior attitude towards you will just continue. I'd pull right back from the lot of them.

Northerner · 20/09/2006 09:07

Back from school run now. Strating work at 10ma today. Yes, a cooling off period is needed here big time.

ggglimpoo, Dh's fatther is French. Dh and bro spent a fair bit of time in France as youngsters and were effectively raised by their French Grandmother. When they came to Engalnd FIL had his own business and again French Grandmother did the hard work, unfortunatley she has passed away now. MIL is English, and they divorced about 20 years ago.

FIL remarried and FIL and step MIL know completely where we are coming form. However they live in Spain for most of the year. They'll be back in November.

OP posts:
SSSandy · 20/09/2006 09:12

Think things went pretty much the way you expected last night, didn't they?

I think you're very wise to take MIL out of your childcare arrangements. Agree too with what someone else said, perhaps in future refuse to be drawn into discussions on BIL and SIL with MIL and v.v. Just react with complete silence or if it feels right for you, I don't want to discuss SIL behind her back, kind of thing.

I would suggest you drop the whole leaving kids with SIL and taking hers scenario. You'd be better off with a reliable and friendly babysitter for the odd occasion you need one. SIL can afford one, so spare yourselves the hassle.

Personally I wouldn't allow anyone who speaks badly of my parents into my home, even if I heard about it second-hand. But I'm not as conciliatory as you are. Hope things improve so you feel comfortable with the whole situation.

Northerner · 20/09/2006 09:12

catsmother fab post - thankyou

How come other people sum things up better than me? She is enjoying feling hurt here and painting me as the bad guy. Another thing MIL had told them about was a family christening recently that MIL did not go to, we went and at 3.30pm SIL and BIL and their kids came back to ours for a cuppa, they ended up staying for tea (their suggesstion) and left at 10pm. We felt this was a bit much. MIL has told them we said they outstayed their welcome and should have pi**ed off after their cup of tea. She plays on the I would never say that, I can't trust you, how can I ever come to your house again, blah blah bloody blah.

God, writing it down makes it look so bloody childish.

OP posts: