Most people come with some sort of baggage and often enough, that baggage is their family. Sometimes this can be a great experience, and sometimes it ends up being living evidence of why in-law jokes go back for centuries.
A mother of four wondered if she was wrong to kick her MIL out of the house after she would not stop eating all of her food. The issue was exacerbated by her husband not being willing to take her side. We reached out to the woman in the story via private message and will update the article when she gets back to us.
Some folks in-laws are truly annoying
Image credits:mstandret (not the actual photo)
But one mom of four decided that enough was enough and that she had to kick her food-thief MIL out of the house
Image credits: Klara Kulikova (not the actual photo)
Image credits:Efficient-Hat1594
In-laws can be a tricky bunch to deal with
Unfortunately, the internet is absolutely littered with stories about difficult in-laws, their expectations, boundaries and egos all end up clashing together. It’s not always even the in-laws who are the instigators of any issues, as some folks simply see their own family as free labor and resources, so why would your partner’s parents be any different?
While entitled parents are an issue, all too often, one major enabler is the child of a terrible in-law who has been utterly incapable of setting normal boundaries. The husband in this story is a classic example of that, a man who, at best, is in utter denial about what his mother is like. This is a classic example of a dysfunctional family, but in this case, it would appear that the husband isn’t even aware of it being an issue.
Instead of sticking up for his wife and the mother of his four children, he provides some lame and weak excuses. To play the devil’s advocate for a moment, perhaps the wife didn’t communicate her issues to him, maybe this was the first time he hears of it and is taken aback. Even if this is the case, he should still perhaps take the words of his own wife at face value. Some folks seem to still always prioritize their parents, to the detriment of their partners.
Instead, he throws a fit and ends up out of the house, his own return uncertain. All that, instead of just telling his mother to stop eating random food. This is exacerbated by the fact that this MIL does not even help around the house at all. There is no denying that with four kids, one of which is a newborn, there is likely a lot to do.
Image credits:Nicole Michalou (not the actual photo)
Boundaries are important, even among family
Instead, she finds time to simply be around, giving no assistance and not helping the mother of four, while having ample time and energy to just sample whatever items someone else has made. Perhaps one of the great perks of being a grandparent is that the kids aren’t technically your responsibility, but if you are actively impeding the mother, that’s a different issue entirely.
As some readers already noted, a nursing mother needs all the sustenance she can get as her body is literally the sole grocery store for the newborn. In a sense, this MIL isn’t just taking calories away from the mother, she is depriving them from the baby. The fact that this MIL is so gluttonous that a child can’t leave a plate on the counter for more than a little bit is downright strange.
Food is just one of the things that some in-laws feel entitled to. Other’s online have shared their difficulties with in-laws that see their homes as a sort of second house, to be used at will. It’s possible that with their own children, this was a normal occurrence, but this again just points to the dissolution of good boundaries. Particularly narcissistic people will exploit situations like this. After all, kicking out a random stranger is easy, kicking out the mother of your partner isn’t. Even if you like someone, you need to be able to feel safe telling them to stop or even leave.
Image credits:Lisa Fotios (not the actual photo)
Some readers wanted more details
Most thought the MIL was out of line
