Overuse of terms of endearment

[Anonymous]

One of the things I have noticed about MIL is that she uses A LOT of terms of endearment on my kids. Over a 2 day visit, I heard about 25-50 sweeties, honeys, buddies, sugars, etc. By the end of the visit, it seemed like she was ready for us to leave, which made me feel like her affection is fake. Please weigh in--is she fake or sincere? How long will she keep this up? Does anyone constantly do this and is there any end in sight? Something about it is rubbing me the wrong way, but it's not like I can say anything even though it seems sickly sweet and makes me want to vomit.

[Anonymous]

Pick your battles.

[Anonymous]

Is she southern? Some southern women just do that. She probably doesn't even realize she's doing it.

[Anonymous]

My MIL does this. She is southern, just chalked it up to that.

[Anonymous]

Does she know your kids names? Maybe she calls them schmoopsie because she's forgotten if your kid is Lily or Olive or Hazel or Hannah.

[Anonymous]

Are you serious?

This is not a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you serious?

This is not a problem.

Amen!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the things I have noticed about MIL is that she uses A LOT of terms of endearment on my kids. Over a 2 day visit, I heard about 25-50 sweeties, honeys, buddies, sugars, etc. By the end of the visit, it seemed like she was ready for us to leave, which made me feel like her affection is fake. Please weigh in--is she fake or sincere? How long will she keep this up? Does anyone constantly do this and is there any end in sight? Something about it is rubbing me the wrong way, but it's not like I can say anything even though it seems sickly sweet and makes me want to vomit.

So after she spent 2 days with you & your kids the fact that she seemed a little relived to have you go home means she doesn't have any real affection for them? Wow, OP, you are difficult to please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the things I have noticed about MIL is that she uses A LOT of terms of endearment on my kids. Over a 2 day visit, I heard about 25-50 sweeties, honeys, buddies, sugars, etc. By the end of the visit, it seemed like she was ready for us to leave, which made me feel like her affection is fake. Please weigh in--is she fake or sincere? How long will she keep this up? Does anyone constantly do this and is there any end in sight? Something about it is rubbing me the wrong way, but it's not like I can say anything even though it seems sickly sweet and makes me want to vomit.

Wow. This is a new MIL complaint for me. Your poor, poor MIL. Imagine being castigated for calling your grandchild "sweetie" more than your DIL deems acceptable..

[Amazin]

As a grandfather, after a couple of days with my grandkids (all 3 and under) I'm pretty worn out. But I love them no less and yes I use plenty of terms of endearment. I also use terms of endearment with my daughters, DIL and DW. Your MIL sounds perfectly normal. Either OP has a problem or there is something else that is really the problem.

[Anonymous]

Ha my parents are amazing and loving grandparents. But yeah, after 2-3 days with my 3 year old around they are ready for school break!! Either there is more to the story or OP is a miserable person.

[Anonymous]

Oh for the LOVE.

[Anonymous]

This seems like a non issue. It's not fake, it how she refers to people. I don't even call my baby by her first name most of the day, it's honey and sweetie and a bunch of domino atone nicknames. My parents do the same thing and it's genuine. My in laws call her by her first name since that's what they're into and it's still sweet and genuine. Everyone is different. Let it go.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. Actually I now realize it's not the terms of endearment that is the problem. That's more of a symptom of a greater problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. Actually I now realize it's not the terms of endearment that is the problem. That's more of a symptom of a greater problem.

Are you the problem?