In laws and childcare

Thriftylady

abijanzo wrote:

Oh My God! I'd have to kill her!!!!!

believe me, many times I have wondered if its still illegal to kill your MIL !! I'm surprised more people don't do it !!

I think I probably share this situation with a lot of people in that in many respects my MIL is what you would call 'a lovely lady' - she is not malicious, she genuinely wants to help, so this makes it all the harder to tackle the situation. If she was just a b*tch, I could easily tell her outright to respect my wishes, as I wouldn't be afraid of offending her.

She is just one of those people who thinks that she is the only person in the world who knows how to do anything. And I mean anything at all. A brief selection of her gems : - she had an operation a couple of years ago, but thinks the surgeon did it wrong. She has been to every optician in the town where we live, as she says that they have all given her the wrong glasses prescription. She is on medication from her GP but thinks that its the wrong medication for her condition. When she took her cat to the vet, the vet didn't know what he was doing. My baby was delivered incorrectly.

I could go on (for pages and pages!) but you get the idea. I know you get the odd incompetent doctor or whatever, but what would the chances be that every single one of these people is wrong? So, you see my dilemma. If I had a PhD in 'looking after babies', she would still think I was doing it wrong!!

elona

Your MIL must be very gifted!! lol

Just imagine if we were all like her - there would be no need for medical schools, universities etc.
What a lot of money we would save.;)

Has your mother in law ever actually obtained any type of qualification or actually studied for anything?

Have a sneaking feeling the answer is "No" and that she would claim that everything is just "common sense".

Thriftylady

elona wrote:

Has your mother in law ever actually obtained any type of qualification or actually studied for anything?

Have a sneaking feeling the answer is "No" and that she would claim that everything is just "common sense".

Correct, left school at 14 and accuses anyone who studies medicine/law/dentistry or whatever of being full of themselves. But still expects to avail of their services, funnily enough !!

elona

Aha!!

You would not believe this but I think she has low self esteem and is busily knocking everyone else down so that she can , as she thinks, build herself up.

She probably has no clue about how silly it makes her look! Or how infuriating it is for the unfortunate on the receiving end!

lil_me

Now I feel lucky that none of my childrens grandparents offer to look after them. They've stayed with DPs parents once, my parents a couple of times when I was in hospital.

Sorry but if my MIL or anyone else for that matter went against what I had asked them to do when looking after MY child, I wouldn't be able to stop myself having words and if I thought they would do it again, I wouldn't allow them to look after them.

bikerqueen

my mum has my six week old, but id no way let her stay at the in laws - i doubt i ever will let her stay there on her own,. especially not over night.

i dont like them, i dont trust them, and they would do all sorts of things i dont want them to, and then be all smug about it.

ooobedoo

My dh's grandmother told me that a baby is better being born as 7 months than at 8 months....when I questioned her about this, she could provide no reasons for it, just that she was right......I think sometimes you just have to pity people like this. There is no chance I will ever let my children go to the inlaws again...they did everything I askekd them not to

rio

ooobedoo wrote:

My dh's grandmother told me that a baby is better being born as 7 months than at 8 months....when I questioned her about this, she could provide no reasons for it, just that she was right......I think sometimes you just have to pity people like this. There is no chance I will ever let my children go to the inlaws again...they did everything I askekd them not to

Actually I think she may be right - sort of. I think it's something to do with the baby's position in the womb, apparently at 7 months many babies are in the right position head down etc, but during the eighth month they can move around again, so if you go into labour it is easier to give birth to a 7 month baby than an 8 month one.

ooobedoo

oh no.....I hate it when any of them are right!!!!!!

elona

I would not say she was right - what might be easier for the mother is not always what is best for the baby.

It is the same logic as mothers who smoke, when told the baby will be a lower birth rate - they reply that it will be an easier labour!!! Not a thought to a baby who will be threatened by the smoking!