Building a good relationship with your mother-in-law can be hard and sometimes feels impossible. Both people need to try hard to make it work. But what if a good relationship suddenly falls apart? Today, we have a story like that.
How it all started.
“I (36F) live with my husband (41M). I get along well with my MIL, especially compared to some of the horror stories I’ve heard. She’s sweet and warm, but also a bit controlling. She has strong opinions and doesn’t respect boundaries.
For instance, when she visits, she takes over the kitchen and insists on cooking all our meals. While she’s a great cook, she won’t let me help and always puts things away in the wrong places, insisting her way is better. But since she only visits during holidays and I really like her, I don’t mind dealing with these small annoyances.”
“I’m pregnant with our little girl, who will be born in a few months. This is a miracle. I didn’t think it would happen, but we got lucky. When my MIL heard, she was super excited and said she would come over to help us get ready for the baby.
She offered to stay for the next 6 months to help out because my husband and I both work long hours, and it will be hard to handle the baby. She is very involved because she genuinely sees herself as part of our family. She arrived a few days ago, set herself up, and then started cleaning.
I like collecting things from garage sales, like little sculptures, books, and baskets. Our house is full, but it’s tidy and doesn’t look like a hoarder’s house. My MIL, however, likes everything extremely clean.
Yesterday, I came home from work and found the house a mess. She had gone through my cabinets, cleared out everything she considered junk, and made several trips to Goodwill before I got home. I was furious and asked her why she did this. She said the house has to be tidy for the baby and that it would be ‘dangerous’ for the baby to be in a cluttered house.
Then she took another big bag of stuff and tried to leave. I lost it and told her she had to get out right now. She was shocked and said she didn’t have anywhere to go and it was so late, around 9:30. I booked her a hotel room and called a taxi.
My husband came home an hour later, and when I told him what happened, he was furious with me. He said I disrespected his mom and was ungrateful for everything she’s trying to do for us.”
