Vent: Annoying In Laws
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Anonymous
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My husband's parents were in town this past week. We live in a 3BR townhouse with 3 kids (5, 2, and a baby), but have kept a dedicated guest room for them to visit. They only visit once or twice a year, and when they do they usually only come for one or two days at most. We have family in NJ and they are from CA, so usually we go up to see them in NJ when they come. But even then its only for a few days at most. This trip they came for four days which was the longest they have ever come since we moved into this house and had children.
Here are the things they mentioned on a daily basis: 1. We need to get a single family home. Our house is too cramped and small. 2. We aren't giving any of our kids enough attention. Especially our middle child (who is 2). Since we make him sleep in his own bed instead of letting him sleep in our bed every night, we don't show him enough love. (He's been having some sort of sleep regression so he was waking up and crying in the middle of the night. My husband was sleeping on the floor next to his bed every night.) He's throwing tantrums because he doesn't get enough attention (not because he's two and that's what two year olds do). We need to get a nanny (the kids are in daycare). 3. My eldest daughter should have had her ears pierced when she was a baby. We should pierce the baby's ears. 4. You're not giving the kids enough peanut butter. They are going to develop a peanut allergy. They eat too much sugar. 5. You bathroom towels aren't absorbent enough. They look like kitchen towels. |
Anonymous
| FWIW, all their criticisms seem pretty petty and unimportant and nitpicky so I wouldn't worry about it. just shrug it off. esp since you rarely see them |
Anonymous
| OP being a guest is hard too. If you know they hate your towels, buy 4 super nice ones and keep them just for guests. (that's what we do). I stay at my inlaws at least 8-10x a year and the towels, sheets, mattress and pillows are all awful. |
Anonymous
| This is my life whenever my mother comes over, and she only lives an hour away so it happens a lot. 4 days a year sounds amazing. |
Anonymous
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They're just stating their opinions about things. You don't have to listen to them.
You rarely see them, and they only stay for a handful of days despite coming from across the country. If you can't handle this, then I think you need to grow up. |
Anonymous
| Why do you keep a dedicated guest room for them when they only come for 4-6 days a year? Make that room a usable daily space! |
Anonymous
| Count your blessings, at least you dont see them often. Mine pop in whenever they feel like it, which is 2-3 times a week. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
i would consider attacks on how i rear my children as a little more than petty. talk to dh. he needs to address it with his parents. |
Anonymous
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Op - you are doing pretty darned good if you have 3 small children and that's the worst that your family comes up with in terms of criticism.
Get new towels for the guest bathroom (if you don't want to spend $ try a thrift store - just wash them before using). The other stuff is stupid and probably were not meant as insults. |
Anonymous
| Be glad they don't come often or stay long! |
Anonymous
OP here. They were complaining about the nice guest towels! The guest bathroom is used by my eldest as "her" bathroom so she picked out the decor. She has these really nice Martha Stewart towels with buckets and shovels on them. My MIL thought the buckets and shovels were pots and pans! My only real complaint is that they were rude. I would never tell anyone that their house is small or that they are doing a bad job of raising their kids. They only come once or twice a year, which makes it almost worse when they say things about the kids behavior because they don't know the kids very well. |
Anonymous
Ack, I hate this sort of thing. Make sure that *Guest Bathroom Towels* are on your Christmas List (or bday list) and hopefully they will give you what they want to see in that bathroom. |
Anonymous
I would tell them that if they don't like the towels at my house they are welcome to bring their own or stay in a hotel. How ridiculous! |
Anonymous
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ignore
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