Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I know exactly what you are talking about.

My in-laws do this too. I think it stems from anxiety and poor social skills. Even worse, they ruminate over normal happenings so much that it'll get followed up by an email a week later: "When we were visiting you, we noticed the baby touching his ears. We didn't want to say anything, but have you had him checked for an ear infection?"

They stand right.next.to.us when serving food or cooking. They comment on every.single.thing that our kids do. No pound of weight gain or loss goes unnoticed, they'll inquire about super personal things (FIL asked if tore badly from my vaginal delivery), and they seem to delight in worse-case-scenarios ("I heard you say your car needs an oil change. Are you prepared for the potential it may needs thousands of dollars in extra work?")

There is no reading the room. There is no concept of personal space. Nothing is off-limits. Visits are excruciating.

It is comforting to me to read of all of this - it seems that I am not alone. May I ask if your family is from a different culture? I suspect some of these behaviors may be due to cultural differences.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I know exactly what you are talking about.

My in-laws do this too. I think it stems from anxiety and poor social skills. Even worse, they ruminate over normal happenings so much that it'll get followed up by an email a week later: "When we were visiting you, we noticed the baby touching his ears. We didn't want to say anything, but have you had him checked for an ear infection?"

They stand right.next.to.us when serving food or cooking. They comment on every.single.thing that our kids do. No pound of weight gain or loss goes unnoticed, they'll inquire about super personal things (FIL asked if tore badly from my vaginal delivery), and they seem to delight in worse-case-scenarios ("I heard you say your car needs an oil change. Are you prepared for the potential it may needs thousands of dollars in extra work?")

There is no reading the room. There is no concept of personal space. Nothing is off-limits. Visits are excruciating.

It is comforting to me to read of all of this - it seems that I am not alone. May I ask if your family is from a different culture? I suspect some of these behaviors may be due to cultural differences.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I know exactly what you are talking about.

My in-laws do this too. I think it stems from anxiety and poor social skills. Even worse, they ruminate over normal happenings so much that it'll get followed up by an email a week later: "When we were visiting you, we noticed the baby touching his ears. We didn't want to say anything, but have you had him checked for an ear infection?"

They stand right.next.to.us when serving food or cooking. They comment on every.single.thing that our kids do. No pound of weight gain or loss goes unnoticed, they'll inquire about super personal things (FIL asked if tore badly from my vaginal delivery), and they seem to delight in worse-case-scenarios ("I heard you say your car needs an oil change. Are you prepared for the potential it may needs thousands of dollars in extra work?")

There is no reading the room. There is no concept of personal space. Nothing is off-limits. Visits are excruciating.

Anonymous wrote:My Mom was like that, just always fussing. Relaxing on couch with hand on head. "Do you have a headache?" "Huh? What? No." "You have your hand on your head." Move hand to stomach and 10 minutes later she asks "Is your stomach alright?" I assure I'm fine and get up from couch. "Where are you going?" I announce to all I'm going to use the washroom. Which is of course followed up by asking if I'm feeling okay. Yep, just feeling the need to go hide in the bathroom and bang my head on the wall until it hurts.