Help! Need coping strategies for dealing with MIL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were forced to spend a week with my in-laws I would 1) pack a large bottle of high quality tequila in my suitcase, and drink it in private. It's amazing how a little alcohol can take the edge off things and 2) whenever my in-laws became unbearable to me (almost every few minutes in my case) I would stand up and leave with no comment and no explanation. Make sure you have access to a car, and use it to get out of there. My in-laws are so dysfunctional that they will make up some explanation for my leaving ("she's tired" "she must have forgotten something at the store" "I think she's not feeling well and had to lie down") instead of acknowledging that their own behavior is driving me away. They are in complete denial about their obnoxiousness and rudeness to me, and there's nothing I can do to enlighten them.

So, your answer to unpleasant in-laws is:

1. Don't stand up for yourself, don't address the issues, don't even ask you husband to help - just run away. Maybe they'll stop being mean next time.

2. Drink in private.

3. In conjunction with drinking in private, drive.

Excellent plan. Yeesh.

[Anonymous]

So many of us know what you are going through, and IMHO, you should not go. (I'm the one that said let him spring for a nanny for the week). What I forgot to mention in addition to not going, is also make him spring for an additional, seperate family vacation. WITHOUT any IL's. IL's can be miserably hell-bent on drawing you in. Don't let them! I wouldn't let her know she bothers you. Mine are miserable too. Passive aggressive as hell: "like what?", "what do you mean?", "I don't know what you are talking about?" Tiresome. I know we will always hear people trying to tell you (me too) to go with them, but that is no vacation to me. Flame away.