Relations with ex- mother-in-laws are ripe for conflict if not handled well. Keeping tight-lipped and using the best of diplomatic skills often helps calm unsettled waters. But even the most reasonable and understanding of people would struggle with the questionable actions of one woman, and her ex-daughter-in-law has taken her concerns to a Reddit forum.
There she reveals that she had to report her mother-on-law's social media account after she discovered that she was editing photos of her children to make them fit her preferred 'beauty standard'.
The woman, who remains anonymous, explains: "I have 5 kids. They all same the share the same father (aka ex-husband). My kids go see his parents, aka their grandparents, every other weekend."
Her children love their visits to their grandparents, but this mum has a grave concern about her mother-in-law: “She has a HUGE obsession with the blonde hair & blue eyed aesthetic and I feel like she may consider that the beauty standard".
"My eldest daughter and son have both of those things, but my 3 other kids not so much.. my twins are blonde with brown eyes and my youngest daughter has blue eyes and a brunette."
If that was not bad enough, she learns something even more sinister: "My MIL [mother in law] is a big social media poster and post my children all the time but mostly my eldest daughter and son.
"I noticed that but I just let it go but it bothered me .. but when she post my other 3 kids she always has weird filters on them but I let it go . But then she posted my 3 kids
photoshopped. My youngest daughter hair was brightened and my twins eyes were edited to be brighter."
This was the final straw and was something she couldn’t let pass: "I messaged her and told her to not photoshop my children and that it's weird and she of course denied it and told me it was the lighting.. which is bulls**t."
After denying it, the mother-in-law did the same thing again, as the woman explains: "Last weekend she posted a picture of all my kids severely photoshopped that even my friends messaged me about it and called it out.
"I texted her to please take it down that I don’t like the post. She ignores me so I had enough and I reported her account and it’s suspended."
The mother-in-law fumed at the woman, claiming that she is "supposedly gate keeping my kids and using my personal feelings strain the relationship with my kids and grandparents".
People flooded to the Reddit post to slam the mother-in-law's actions and to support the author of the post.
"I am so sorry that part of your daughter's growing years have been marred by a grandma that plays favourites all because of how she looks and all because she is born a girl. Why need all the negativity and life is too short to deal with toxicity," one person wrote.
Another agreed: "MIL crossed a line and you took action to protect your children. Social media can be a great thing for staying touch with people, but it has also been shown to cause self-esteem issues in young people, especially when it comes to body image."
