Yahoo Lifestyle Married People Are Revealing The Worst Things About Their In-Laws, And It Makes Staying Single Forever Sound Like A Freakin' Vacation
We recently shared responses from a Reddit thread started by u/fuzzyloulou that asked: "Married people of Reddit, what's something you just hate about your in-laws?" BuzzFeed Community users read these wild stories and, of course, had to share some thoughts, feelings, and reactions of their own. So, here's some more in-law drama:
1."My former MIL was always on the selfish side and 100% had her favorites. She went out of her way to tell me she took a religious oath a long time ago to prevent her children from marrying people of MY religion, but she was OK with it since I don't practice. Fast-forward many years later. Sadly, our only child passed away from childhood cancer, and my mother passed less than a year later. The upcoming Mother’s Day was the first for me without either my child or my mother, so I was a wreck. I was now a motherless child and a childless mother, but my MIL had to play it up that SHE was more distraught over the loss of her grandchild than I was over both losses so she could get my husband's attention. She's a miserable woman who can’t stand not being the center of attention."
2."My in-laws are terrible with money. They filed for bankruptcy and then decided not to make some payments. So, my husband and I ended up taking over their finances and putting them on a budget to make ends meet. Are they grateful?? Nope!! When we tell them they don’t have money to go out to eat, we get told that we don’t care about them. It got so bad that we’ve told them not to talk to us anymore. We manage the finances, but any communication to us has to go through one of my husband’s siblings."
3."I could write a book about my sister’s MIL. When any of the family is together, EVERYONE has to be together at all times. If we need to run to the store to get ice, she makes a scene because 'the family is breaking up.' She honestly expects the entire family (babies and kids included) to pile in the cars and all go a mile to the store for ice. Also, she accompanies my sister when they visit me. She pitched a fit because my sister and I let our kids (4 years old) walk in the backyard without protection. She was afraid they would trip on a tree root. She took pillows from my sofa and walked around behind my sister’s son. If she doesn’t get her way, she will close herself in a room, cry, and then send the whole family a long email about how we wronged her. It's fun."
4."My MIL asked my husband's whole family to wear crosses to our wedding so it wouldn't be 'godless and satanic.' Why? Because my mother was officiating. She also stalks my 11-year-old stepdaughter, who is no-contact with said MIL due to extreme panic attacks whenever she has to see her. And: She gave me an individually wrapped dish sponge for Christmas last year."
5."I love my MIL, but she causes confusion and problems because she tries to get my husband to be a father to his sister's kids. She's even told them to wish him a happy Father’s Day! They are only 8 and 10. My husband donated his sperm to his sister's wife, but signed away all his rights. Neither he nor his sister nor her wife want him to father the kids. My MIL is always going on and on about how she is afraid they will have 'daddy issues,' but they have two present parents. It makes the whole family frustrated."
6."My in-laws are very nice people, but they have two things that really bug me. They have visits that are never-ending, and they do this with their entire family. I don’t want to have house guests for two weeks. Secondly, they don’t help at all when they visit. You used a cup and you just saw me load the dishwasher? Put the cup in the dishwasher, not the sink. My son is autistic and has been known to get out of the house. Just keep an eye on him if I step away for a minute. Don’t tell me he left the house and then just sit there. When he was a baby, no one ever offered to feed him, change a diaper, or even give me a break to nap and just play with him. It’s exhausting."
7."My step-MIL is a piece of work. She's a teacher, but literally hates children. All she does is complain about her horrible students...who are kindergarteners. And, there are many times she treats the grandkids like she would rather be anywhere else but with them. She also has some really bizarre hang-ups about my husband's mom. My FIL and MIL divorced almost 30 years ago, and yet step-MIL felt it necessary to bring up during my recent baby shower that she and FIL had now been married longer than he and MIL had. She did this out loud to other people while my saint of a MIL was no more than three feet away. Why would that even matter?! She's an odd bird."
8."Where to start? They are racist bigots who, despite only being Christmas Christians who haven’t been to church in 40 years, didn’t like their son marrying a Jew. We bought their house over 20 years ago, and my MIL has still not said one nice thing about anything we’ve changed, as though it should've been kept a shrine to her style. They moved away years ago and have only visited their son maybe three times. They actually made a trip to his state one time without telling him because they were visiting his uncle and didn’t visit their son. And, when we first bought the house, I, a Jew, did my best to host a festive Christmas for them, only to be told they wouldn’t come back for Christmas ever again because 'it wasn’t what they were expecting.' I could go on for hours with examples."
9."My MIL told my husband she would forgive him if I ever got an abortion because it would mean I clearly didn't talk to him first. I've never been pregnant. She also has had one herself and never cared about anything like this until she married her new husband. Let's just say, I'm always busy when they visit. So weird!"
10."I'm pretty sure my MIL has never heard the word 'no,' and I apparently introduced it to her because she thinks she can just announce that she wants to visit or that she wants something and expects everyone else to comply. Then I came along and was like: NOPE! Safe to say, we don’t have a great relationship and have moved away from her TWICE!"
11."I love, love, LOVE my MIL, but I really wish she would grow a spine. She falls for these 'men' (more like leeches) who do nothing but spend her money. She had a great job and got one hell of a pension when she retired. She gets around $10k per month, and her current husband has no problem spending most, if not ALL of it. When she was single, she wanted to get out of California and move back east and raise chickens once she retired. Well, boyfriend #1 screwed her over on that because he wanted to stay close to his daughter, so she ended up stuck in Cali. Boyfriend #2, who is now her husband, refuses to retire and is moving her all over the country so HE can work. She's exhausted. She just wants to BE. In five years, she's lived in three states. She's 67!! I wish she would stop being a bank and a doormat. She's so, SO good and wonderful. I hate these men that do this to her."
12."We have more money than my MIL, and she is so jealous of my husband’s success. She’ll make fun of our vacations and say she’d never live in a 'snobby’ place, work as a corporate exec, or drive cars that weren’t made in America. We don’t put anything on Facebook or anywhere else. I guess my husband's sister tells her? She posts all the time about how her son thinks he's so great. You know what? He is. Sorry he came from broke, miserable people and made a success of himself. You’d think she’d be proud of him. It’s all envy disguised as disdain. What mother gets mad when her kid does well in life?"
13."My in-laws are racist, and I’m Mexican. They’ve never made comments directed toward me specifically, but they have made comments about Mexican immigrants. My parents are immigrants, and the in-laws know this. I stopped going to any events with them, and thankfully, they moved out of state. My partner does holidays with them, and I stay and enjoy the holidays with my family. Successfully, I haven’t seen them in two years."
14."They refused to acknowledge our kids because they weren't baptized. They now do acknowledge them, but it took years. What's even worse is my spouse won't acknowledge it even happened. Or, he'll say it's in the past. Pisses me off. They were awful for years. I refuse to go see them."
15."My MIL doesn't like actually resolving issues. If she has a problem, she's loud about it to get people's attention for as long as possible. She's creative about finding problems and creative about finding why any suggested solution won't work. She's a definite energy vampire."
16."They constantly undermine my parenting and treat my husband and me like we're children. It's so frustrating, especially since we live next door."
17."They were neglectful parents. I realize that they weren't in the best financial situation while my partner was growing up, but they kept his learning disability diagnosis a secret from him, and he was left to his own devices most of the time. He's the youngest by a lot, and likely was not planned. He grew up without being encouraged to do well in school or to set goals in life. He also struggled a lot with affection early in our relationship because it wasn't modeled in his home growing up. My partner doesn't hold it against them, though. He merely sees his childhood as a way to not raise our child, so I have to commend him on that. I just wish he had been given the support and love a child deserves."
18."I adore my FIL and step-MIL. They are supportive, welcoming, and fun. They are both really 'Type A' and 'super planners,' which can sometimes be a little irritating, but we have a huge family, and their organization makes for seamless and enjoyable family gatherings. I love my MIL, but she is not the most pleasant to be around. She is very passive aggressive, and is one of those people who just always seems to be want to be miserable. When we get together, she spends most of the time complaining about how her sons never want to see her. She also recruits them to do things for her (which they would happily do) by implying that they owe her because she gave birth to them. It’s just exhausting."
"Everyone would probably make more of an effort to spend time with her if every visit wasn’t a passive aggressive guilt trip. She is better one-on-one, so I try to find ways to hang out with her alone because we get along well. I just wish she would let everyone relax and enjoy the time together."
19."My MIL is super overbearing and treats my wife like a child. She constantly makes it seem like my wife and I are an inferior couple to her son and his wife. My MIL is also super nosy, constantly inserts herself into everyone's business, and acts like a child when people disagree with her."
20."My FIL's manners. He talks on speakerphone very loudly. No one wants to hear his conversations, and it's just rude. Also, he burps out loud in restaurants and acts like it's normal and no big deal. That is the one that really frustrates me because I notice people looking at our table, and it's embarrassing for an adult to bring attention like that from a damn burp."
21.Finally: "My MIL treats me like one of the family and doesn't hesitate to tell me how much she loves me. Her only son? She rarely remembers his birthday, she didn't congratulate him when he finally graduated college, and she has no clue how to relate to him and doesn't want to figure out how. Also, his uncle asked me how much money it would take for me not to marry him. Not because they disliked me that much, but because they didn't feel he 'deserved to be happy.' Thankfully, my parents think he's wonderful and shower him with all the love and validation he's been looking for all his life."
Yiiiiiikes. Is there anything about your in-laws that you really can't stand? Tell us in the comments. 👀
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
