While I was in labor with my first child, my in-laws sat in the waiting room for nearly 12 hours just to see their new granddaughter.  The nurse took my daughter through the hall to the nursery, and along the way she stopped and allowed my grandmother and mother-in-law to hold the baby.  By the time I was wheeled from the delivery room to the recovery room, maybe 20 minutes later, my in-laws were gone.  They had left on a 5 day trip to their house in the mountains without uttering a single word to me, or even seeing me, and they knew my parents wouldn't be able to travel to the state for 6 days.

My MIL is a real piece of work.  This woman constantly trashes me, her other daughter in law, and her 2 sons in law.  She has already made it very clear to everyone that she would be thrilled if every one of her children were divorced.  She's offered to take her daughters in if they leave their husbands.  One has, and the other is separated.  She is constantly giving her daughters money, and buying them whatever they want; but when we need something it is a loan, and we are reminded of it constantly.  I'm sure that any loans would be forgotten immediately if my husband would leave me.  My children, and my brother-in-law's children, are treated much worse than her daughter's children.  She even bad-mouths her other daughter-in-law's child from an earlier relationship.  Well, today I wrote her an e-mail telling her exactly what I thought.  Now, I'm waiting for the Earth to stand still.  Thanks for letting me vent!

My MIL is an absolute monster, but instead of describing her, I'd like to share a simple solution that has helped me (at least some): caller ID.  Now, when she calls, I don't answer the phone.  I hadn't realized how often I dreaded answering the phone for fear that it was my MIL on the line, complaining about something I did, or that she wants me to do.  Instead, my husband talks to her, and he has the sense to not pass along to me what she says.  Good luck!

My ex-MIL is an awful, terrible person.  In the past 6 years that I've known her, she has: a) hated me,  b) loved me when I got pregnant,  c) tried to run my life, even after her son (my ex) died and,  d) taken my 4 yr old son...She will not let me see him, except when the court says, and when I call, "Oh, he's asleep."  She is a complete B***H...

Boy, am I happy I found this website.  I married my husband about a month ago.  He's 6 years older than me (in his mid 30's).  His mother has had him all to herself, at her beck and call, for all these years.  Now, he is finally telling her that he has a wife now, and a whole new set of friends and family which he has inherited, and which we now have to divide our time between.  She is fighting it tooth and nail.

She is upset I don't cook for him all the time.  Excuse me, he used to be a chef, and loves to cook.  I clean the house and do the dishes and work, and this IS the 90's, after all.  Well, nothing is good enough for her boy.  For my wedding shower, she gave me "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cooking."  Now, I know those "Idiot" and "Dummy" books can be informative, but when I opened it at my shower in front of all my friends and relatives, I was mortified!  I just don't think that was an appropriate cookbook to give her future daughter-in-law.

My new husband and his dad (a very nice man) are finishing building a new house that he and I will be moving into, which was started before I came along.  Well, now that I will be the woman living in it, we have started figuring out how we will decorate it.  She is upset that the decorating ideas she had for the house when her son was still a bachelor are not going to be used.  I'M the one that has to see the decorations every day, I'M the one that will be living there, not HER!

My father-in-law always gives me a big hug when he sees me.  My mother-in-law gives me one of those insincere wimpy hugs.  I know it's probably nothing personal, she just can't let go of her son, but it is really frustrating, and is hurtful too.  I never had this problem with any of my ex-boyfriends' parents, so I know it can't be me!  Even when my husband and I were just boyfriend/girlfriend she was cold to me.  I'm just worried about when we have kids.  Luckily, my husband has been good about laying down the law, so I don't have to be the bad guy.  It's hard for him to do, because in that family you just don't confront her; you just let her dictate, and smile and nod.  But, I am really proud of him.  Our premarital counselor told us that, now that we are married, our spouses come first, not our parents.  My husband has taken that as the gospel truth, thank God.  His younger brother has been a rebel since a child, so they had no expectations of him, and transferred all their expectations onto my husband.

No one in the family has any respect for privacy.  They all have keys, and walk in any time.  Well, actually, that has changed.  My husband told them that, unless they want to see the newlyweds "doing it" when they barge in, they'd better call first!  They haven't pulled anything since.

My approach has been to bite my tongue, and be as nice as possible.  Killing her with kindness also seems to work.  I tell her how I love her house, ask her for advice on certain things (even though I won't be using it).  It keeps things civil at least.

I don't have a bad MIL story.  In fact, there is nothing bad about my MIL.  She and my FIL live very far away.  We don't get to see them nearly enough.  I look forward to every visit.  My husband and I have been married almost 7 years, and I have not found 1 flaw in my MIL.  No, she is not perfect, just really close to it.  She has never said a cross thing to me.  I enjoy just sitting down and chatting with her.  She is a very educated, informed, inspirational lady.  She has a very uplifting personality.  I always leave there feeling 10 feet tall.  She is like my best friend.  That, in itself, is priceless.  I had a lot of family problems at one time.  My MIL was there on the phone with me every step of the way.  I think of her like this:  if I were an artist, I could draw or paint this picture for her.  Picture a huge field of pretty, great smelling flowers.  Now, picture a really colorful, beautiful, flower standing out above all the other flowers, out in the middle of the field.  I would walk out there and pick that big ol' pretty flower, because that is my MIL.  I would pick her above all the others.  From reading all the stories, I feel like the luckiest woman in the world.  I'm glad she's mine.