How To Keep Her Home
So that means no comments on her housecleaning, the way she places her
furniture, or her visible dishes in the sink. None of it.
My Son Looks Skinny, Don’t You Feed Him?
Is that a dig on cooking skills or the ability to keep her husband healthy? Sadly its probably both. First of all, the presumption that a grown man cannot feed himself
makes my skin crawl. But on the cooking side, mean mothers-in-law often
love nothing more than to put down a wife’s cooking skills.
He Was Mine Before He Was Yours
These commentsare fighting words!” It’s common
sense that she raised your husband, but you are his wife and she is his
mother, two unique and starkly different roles (God willing!). No
reminder is necessary.
I Would Never Let My Child Do THAT!
I
don’t care if it something as simple as leave food on their plate or
throw darts as their brother, what you did with your child 30, 40, 50
years ago is utterly inconsequential to me. I am the mother and I will respond the way I see fit, got it?
The Baby Stopped As Soon As You Left
The implication is that once you were out of the picture, your child
behaved fine…for her…probably because you couldn’t get the job done.
Might you want to rethink those words?
Discussing Your Husband’s Past Girlfriends
“Oh honey, remember your old girlfriend Lila
with the long flowing blond hair who came from that well-bred rich
family? I saw her yesterday and she just completed her second year of
medical school, had three kids, bought a house on the Upper East Side
(in cash), and looks exactly the same as she did when you were dating.
She said to say hello.” Of course, she’ll say this when you have not
yet showered after being up with a newborn all night, your hair is
falling out, and your hormones are teetering on the brink of full blown
breakdown……..which leads me to...
Physical Appearance
Do
not comment on your daughter-in-law’s recent bad haircut, weight gain,
added grey hairs, tired eyes, or any other physical asset, unless it’s
complimentary. I can assure you that you may have no ill intention
behind it, but I can also guarantee you that there are some women out there who will take it the wrong way.
And some comments are just comments, like “Why don’t take a rest, you
look a little tired. I’ll watch the baby”, but some are plain mean, “I
notice the grey hairs are just multiplying, time for a touch-up?’ And
those words are simply asking for trouble.
