Relatives are often eager to help us, but they aren’t always able to cope with their own problems first. Their “politeness” often makes us blush, while their logic has nothing to do with common sense.

1.)

My mother-in-law was embarrassed to buy personal hygiene products for herself, and she asked me to do it as her future daughter-in-law. I went out and bought her a year’s worth of the sanitary pads she liked. I wrapped them up so pretty, so they looked like an extravagant gift. Then, I left them at the reception desk where she worked. How was it my fault that she opened them at work? Needless to say, she convinced her son that I wasn’t an appropriate marriage material. But since I was the breadwinner, I wasn’t upset that our relationship ended.

2.)

My husband passed away 3 years after we got married, so I was left alone with our young son. I had no intention of dating anyone at this time. For 2 years, I just went from home to work and back, spent all my time with my son, and sometimes went out with my friends. But my “compassionate” mother-in-law decided to bring me back to life. By the way, I didn’t communicate with her at all and she blamed me for whatever she could. But she found a dating advertisement in some magazine, wrote a letter on her behalf, and attached my photo. I knew nothing about this when I got a 6-page-long letter from a man who was 12 years older than me. He wrote about how great he was, and how many pigs and hectares of land he owns. He claimed that I could still do something with my life, at the age of 23. I explained to him that I wasn’t going to get married, made a scene with my mother-in-law, and took back all my photos.

3.)

My husband and I lived separately from my mother-in-law in a house nearby. But our windows were located diagonally from each other. My mother-in-law would come over every morning to tell me off, saying that I hadn’t taken care of my husband while he was getting ready for work. He usually quietly got up, got dressed, made his lunch, had breakfast, and then left the house, while I was sleeping with a child. He didn’t turn on the light in our bedroom, only in the hallway. But it turned out that she thought I was supposed to get up, turn on the lights everywhere, dress him, feed him, pack his lunch, kiss him goodbye, etc. My mother-in-law watched us every morning. Until I made a big fuss about it.

4.)

I love my mother-in-law, but she isn’t a very practical person. Her son and husband are always doing things for her. Once, we went shopping together and I was driving her car. When we bought everything we needed, she asked if we could put gas in the car. I said, “Yeah, sure.” I was pregnant at the time, so I thought that she would put the gas in the car herself. But she looked at me for a few seconds, and then asked me if I could do it. It turned out that she had never done it before, even though she had been driving for 15 years.

5.)

My husband and I once went out to get ice cream. Our kid decided to stay with my father- and mother-in-law. We returned home an hour later and saw that the front door was unlocked and the house was in pitch darkness. My in-laws were sleeping soundly in their room, and my kid was sitting in our room totally scared. He said that they sent him out of their room and closed the door. We were stunned. What if my kid went out into the street looking for us?