The annoying mother-in-law is a trope so played out, the ancient Romanswere making jokes about them. But far, far worse, is a mother-in-law who goes from annoying to downright intrusive particularly when they seem to have an unhealthy obsession with your child and have no regard at all for any boundaries.
A concerned motherturned to the internetfor advice after sharing her MIL’s weird behavior around her kid, including her insistence on baptizing the child directly against the parent’s wishes.
It can be hard to set and enforce effective boundaries with “family”
Image credits:Kyle Nieber (not the actual photo)
A mom described her concerns regarding a MIL that seemed way too interested in her child
Image credits:Yan Krukau (not the actual photo)
Image credits:Jelleke Vanooteghem (not the actual photo)
Image credits:Luvfallandpsl
Jokes about mothers-in-law are thousands of years old
The many, many negative cultural depictions of mothers-in-law (and parents-in-law in general,) seem to come from a real set of beliefs that many people hold. While it might not be clear which came first, the MIL-joke-eggs or the real, annoying MIL-chicken,jealousy, mistrust, and competitionare commonly felt emotions between a person in a relationship and their partner’s parents. This situation is exacerbated when there are cultural or even economic differences between the parties. It’s not all doom and gloom, in some cases, the partner’s parents become a form of “found family,” particularly when the partner doesn’t have the best relationship with their own parents.
As with so many situations in life, we adapt to this tension with humor. Unfortunately, mothers-in-law tend to be the butt of jokes more often than fathers, for a variety of reasons. First, many fathers simply do not take enough of a role to ever get to the point of being overbearing. Secondly, a father-in-law being joked about might respond with violence. Regardless of the reasons, mother-in-law humor has been around since the Classical era. The Roman poet Juvenal wrote in hisSatire VIthat married couples best “give up all hope of peace as long as your mother-in-law is still alive.”
Image credits:RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
Having a bad relationship with in-laws doesn’t doom a marriage
Image credits:Anna Shvets (not the actual photo)
Netizens gave some suggestions and recommended OP not let the MIL sneak the kid away
OP also shared an update on the whole saga
Image credits:Exergen Corporation (not the actual photo)
Image credits:Photography Maghradze PH (not the actual photo)
Readers shared their shock at the MIL’s behavior
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