Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships are always a delicate topic. Some people quickly find common ground, while for others it’s difficult to build a connection. The reasons can be different. The heroines of our article ended up with mothers-in-law who add a little “spice.” For example, one woman decided she was the heroine of a Turkish soap opera and handed her daughter-in-law money to leave her son. Another decided to prank her daughter-in-law right from the doorstep.
I sent the kids to my mother-in-law for a week. When I came to pick them up, she was happy, saying everything went great. We walk into the house, and my son suddenly says, “Mom, Grandma told us how Dad found you.” I was surprised, and then my son goes: “You were standing at the train station selling little trinkets, living really poorly. Dad saw you and fell in love right away. He brought you home, washed you, bought you dresses, and said you weren’t going anywhere now!” I almost fell over. In that whole drama, the only truth was that we met near a store, and it really was love at first sight. But why my mother-in-law invented this Pretty Woman-style сценарий, I can’t even begin to understand. Apparently Grandma really wanted to add a little heroic rescue to our love story!
Rumors started that I married my husband for money. My mother-in-law believed it. When I came home from work, she threw a banknote at me and said, “Take the money and stay away from my son.” My husband was in the shower, but when he heard that, he ran out and tore her money up. We had a huge fight. That same evening we packed our things and moved out at midnight, even though we still hadn’t finished renovations in our own apartment. But at least we live in peace and quiet now.
I had given birth just a month ago. I was still recovering, getting used to being a mother. Suddenly my mother-in-law calls and yells into the phone: “Pack your things now, you’re living with us for two weeks.” I didn’t understand anything and asked, “Why?” And she says she and her husband are going on vacation, and we have to come and look after her younger son. He’s 16. I suggested he could stay with us if she was afraid to leave him unsupervised. But she insisted we come to their place because it would be too far for him to travel to school.
Not exactly a mother-in-law, but you could call her that. I lived with my boyfriend and his mom. I left for work, then came back and found out the shift wasn’t mine. I must have mixed something up. I return home, walk into the apartment, and there she is, “my mother-in-law,” sleeping in our bed.
I’ve been living with my boyfriend for six months, and it was time to meet his parents. We’re sitting in the kitchen getting ready, and then someone rings the doorbell. A man and a woman are standing there and immediately start accusing me of flooding their apartment. I checked everything, found nothing, told them to go to hell, and slammed the door. The doorbell rings again. I open it, and they’re standing there laughing at me. Turns out my future father-in-law and mother-in-law have that kind of “sense of humor.”
We were at my mother-in-law’s place and I forgot an earring there. That pair meant a lot to me, it was a gift from my dad. I called my mother-in-law, and she goes, “I’ll sell it to you.” I’m like, “What do you mean?” And she says, “Well, I could always take it to a pawn shop.” I wasn’t going to play along, so I complained to my husband. He got up and went straight to his mother. He demanded she give the earring back. And she tried to pass off some cheap costume jewelry instead of my real one. But my husband took a photo, sent it to me, and asked if it was my earring. Only after that did my mother-in-law reluctantly pull the real earring out of her purse. Yep. She was already planning to take it somewhere.
My mother-in-law binge-watched a show about surprise inspections and bought a bunch of white gloves. Now every time she comes over, she’s practically bursting with joy at the chance to find dust in my home. Before her last visit I did a full deep clean. I have never seen disappointment in someone’s eyes like I saw in hers.
My mother-in-law used to call my mom and say, “Your daughter isn’t worthy of my son!” Those calls kept coming regularly, until one day my mom finally snapped and said, “Listen, my daughter graduated university with honors, she has an apartment and a car. And what does your ‘perfect’ son have? Let me remind you: it was our family who helped him get a job, and he’s living in my daughter’s place.” My mother-in-law went silent, clearly not expecting to be spoken to like that. Then she hung up and never called again.
The first thing my future mother-in-law said to me was: “I don’t like you.” I instantly tensed up. And who wouldn’t? But after that, she behaved as politely as possible, and from my careful questioning it seemed she wasn’t saying anything like that to my future husband either. Weird, I thought, but I tried to forget it.
After a while it happened again. She said, once more, that she really didn’t like me. Then she went off cheerfully, full of enthusiasm and endless love, to fuss over the children. I tensed up again. This time I decided not to let it slide and later asked what she actually meant.
She meant exactly what she said: she didn’t like me as a person.
I was shocked and asked why she was such a good mother-in-law then, because usually if the bride isn’t liked, people don’t treat her gently. She didn’t object to the wedding either, and she genuinely congratulated us. She replied:
“That’s because you are the one I don’t like. But my son loves you. You’re loyal, you run a good home, and you’re a loving mother. As a mother-in-law, I’m happy with you. As a person… you can’t force yourself to like someone.”
I have mixed feelings about the whole situation, but I’m still grateful, not many people know how to set priorities like that.
My ex mother-in-law, when I gave birth to my second child, said to my older daughter at the hospital discharge (she was three at the time): “You’re going to live with me now, because your parents have another child now.”
If you could have seen my daughter’s eyes in that moment.
Every time we brought our daughter to my mother-in-law’s, she demanded more spare clothes. I was understanding about it and started bringing several extra T-shirts, tights, and other things. Eventually it got to the point where my daughter barely had any clothes left at home. I opened my mother-in-law’s dresser and pulled everything out, I counted 12 pairs of tights. She never clearly explained why she was hiding them.
A friend of mine had a mother-in-law who insisted the grandson must be named after the great-grandfather (her father) and called Klimenty. When asked why she didn’t give her own son that name, she replied: “What, am I stupid, to name him something like that?”
I got married at 23. Even before the wedding, my fiancé said, “Mom told me to find a wife who will cut my nails.” I thought he was joking. I asked my future mother-in-law directly, and she confirmed it. Before the wedding, she cut his nails herself. A year later, I gave the little nail-care basket back to his mom.
My sister’s mother-in-law is kind of strange. She doesn’t take part in their life at all and calls my brother-in-law with just one line: “I need this.” When they visited her in his hometown, she said, “There’s food in the kitchen, help yourselves,” and went into another room. They ate, and she never came out to sit with them.
But here’s the interesting part: when my sister had a huge fight with her husband, his mother somehow found out, called him, and tore him apart, basically: “Don’t you dare hurt my daughter-in-law.” So she doesn’t talk to her daughter-in-law, but she’s ready to stand up for her.
About my ex mother-in-law. We went to visit them in another city, and it was my first time there. We slept in the living room on the couch. I woke up because someone was looming over me. I was sleeping on the outer edge, and my ex-husband was against the wall. It was her, reaching over me to him so she could stroke him.
If this made you smile (or cringe), please share it. It helps this post reach more people.
