How important is it to treat your in-laws with respect?
While a person chooses their partner when they get married, the thing that they don't get to have a choice in is all the family members that come along from their partner's side.
In-laws have a reputation for being one of the more difficult relationships to manage, and for some, their in-laws are one of the biggest issues or topics of conflict when it comes to their marriage.
These realities were highlighted in a recent online post in which a mother-in-law refuses to feed her daughter-in-law who just gave birth to a newborn baby only a few weeks ago, resulting in major family conflict.
How important is it to treat your in-laws with respect?
A Reddit post published on September 19th, reported on by Taylor McCloud from Newsweek, has gone viral with an astounding 31,700 upvotes and 5,900 comments.
The author begins her post by explaining that she only gave birth to her newborn son 5 weeks ago, and if that weren't difficult enough, her mother-in-law is making her life incredibly difficult.
The mother-in-law has been 'camping out in the author's living room' ever since she gave birth, and going the extra mile by inviting people over to the house without consulting the author beforehand. The author describes her mother-in-law's actions as 'causing general chaos' in the household.
Worried that she would be viewed as ungrateful for having her mother-in-law's support in the first few weeks of her son's life, the author didn't complain about anything and just focused on taking care of the baby. The author also adds that her mother had been cooking regularly and making sure everyone was fed, until a recent encounter blew everything up.
How much time with in-laws is too much?
She explains that she was nursing her son the other night, and she realised that she was late for dinner, but thought that because she was taking care of the baby a plate would be saved for her. However, when the author made her way to the kitchen her mother-in-law told her very loudly that she ‘didn't save her any food’.
The mother-in-law stated that since they didn't see her at the dinner table they thought she ‘wasn't hungry’. The author says she then 'lost it' and yelled that she was 'feeding her son' so of course she was hungry.
After a massive argument unfolded, the author packed a small bag for herself and her newborn son, and went to stay at her mother's house. Her husband then 'blew up at her' as she was headed out, and she told him she 'couldn't take any more of his mom'. He replied that she should be 'ashamed of herself for talking about her mother-in-law that way' when the woman was 'putting her life on pause' to help the author out with the newborn baby.
What do you think? Was the author entirely justified to draw the line and make it clear to her husband that she didn't want his mom living with them anymore? Or is the author just being ungrateful after everything her mother-in-law has done for her, even though nobody saved any dinner for her on a few occasions?
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