Try to top my MIL story

[Anonymous]

You are all apologists amd enablers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the best DCUM thread. Thanks for cheering me up! My DH's mom died long before we met, so I do not have the pleasure/pain of a MIL.

My friend, who's on her second marriage, often says, "A dead in law is the BEST in law!"

I have to agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I may win, but it is not exactly a contest I am happy to win.

My MIL left my five-month old DD on a changing table, left the room to get a washcloth, and DD fell off onto the hardwood floor. But that is not the part that makes me win -- the horrible part is that SHE NEVER TOLD US and did not admit it when confronted. We came home from work, she was rocking DD as if nothing happened. I noticed she was acting weird and when I came close, she said DD got a fat lip from falling forward while sitting up on the floor. I took her, fed her, she seemed fine, I didn't think too much of it.
The next morning, our almost-3 year old woke up, ran into our room and reported "[baby sister] fell off her changing table onto the ground and bled all over!! Her face smashed on the floor and she screamed and screamed and bled and bled!!" He was very excited to tell this news.

MIL denied it. Said the 3 year old made it up. Which was totally unfathomable to us. DH found a bloody washcloth in the bathroom trash can. She claimed she had no idea where it came from.

We took DD to the pediatrician, who said that since the fall was more than 3 feet, she should have been observed overnight. But she was fine. MIL still denied it. FIL claimed he was not there. We did not speak to them for 6 months. (They live 8 hours away.) Slowly, the relationship has repaired. Kind of. I still sometimes can barely stand the sight of her, but we do allow visits (I try to limit to every 8-12 weeks or so, but they try and come more often) and visit them 2x per year. I try and think of it this way -- she is basically a good caretaker. She made a mistake, and was so incredibly scared that we would cut her off from seeing them, that she lied. And then, she couldn't go back on her lie despite it coming out. She is an insecure and sad person. So I try to think of it that way instead of staying mad at her forever, which I easily could do. The kids are older now (3.5 and 5.5) and I don't feel they are in danger when they are with her. I do think she is a liar, but I don't think she would (or could) get my 5.5 year old to lie about something to me.

Oh, she also cut DS's hair for the first time without permission, took DS to see Santa for the first time (while telling us she was going to the library), forces her religion on my kids, makes weight comments to me.....and she's racist and classist.
I win, right??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually love my MIL. She is a great mother and grandmother but she has also come a long way since my story. It was our 1st Christmas as a married couple and my gift from her was an apron and a HUGE cookbook of Italian recipes so I could make "all her boy's favorite dishes" (they are Italian). My super independent, career-focused, furthest-thing-from-a-housewife mother was sitting next to me and almost spit her drink out.

yeah

Coming from an Italian family, this is pretty much what it's like.

I married a WASP.

[Anonymous]

No bad stories here. I love my MIL... that said, she also lives on the other side of the country and her health prevents her from traveling. We visit her a few times a year only for long weekends each time.

My DH has a great relationship with my parents bc they live 9hrs away, visit once a year for a couple of days and we visit one other weekend during the year. We each speak to our in-laws on the phone periodically for short 'catch-up' conversations.

I honestly believe that the fact that our parents stay out of our marriage has made it healthier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When parents left child with MIL for a weekend, the MIL secretly baptized the child at her own church.

Winner?

OMG!!! Winner!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When parents left child with MIL for a weekend, the MIL secretly baptized the child at her own church.

Winner?

OMG!!! Winner!

My mother does this to all the grandchildren. All 15 of them.

[Anonymous]

My MIL once sulked for 2 days of a 7 day trip we took with them, without speaking. My FIL made a comment that offended and embarrassed her, (which I would not have noticed or remembered had she not made a big deal out of it), and she got up from the table at dinner and didn't return. She then remained non-speaking for an entire ferry ride in which the 4 of us sat facing each other, and for the rest of the 2 days, at all other times, including meals. Fun stuff.

She also makes comments about other people's weight, constantly. The biggest fuss they ever made over me was when I was underweight due to the extreme stress and lack of sleep of a very ill/hospitalized 2 year old. They said I looked great! (I was cadaverous).

And, when we showed them a DVD of our young child's school play, MIL was non-committal until the 22 year old play director, who is very slender (and lovely), came on the screen. Then she came to life: "she is so THIN!!". "Who is she?" etc.