Reply to MIL highly offended that we dont keep the stuff she gives us,.

Forum Index » Family Relationships

Reply to "MIL highly offended that we dont keep the stuff she gives us,."

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]I would peruse the book "The life changing magic of tidying up" by Marie Kondo.  It specifically has a chapter on "giving" away things to family members and how often it is a way to pass the guilt of letting go of something.  She recommends not giving something to a family member unless you know they have a specific need and/or it is something they would willingly go out and buy today.    I.e. it sounds like she cannot bear to throw things out or donate them so she manages those feelings of guilt by foisting the items onto your family and when you pass the items along she has to deal with her guilt ( likely due to the era she grew up in, "waste not want not" type mentality.) I agree with a previous poster that it may help to frame for her where the items went into a "brighter" (in her mind) light via charity choice  I.e. if she notices big play kitchen missing you could talk up the charity you donated to, emphasizing how much use the play kitchen will get and how grateful the recipients are.  I would not return the items to her as it merely perpetuates the cycle and will simply allow her to accumulate unused clutter.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics