10 Times In-Laws Became the Villain in Their Family’s Sitcom

Over-stepping in-laws are such a common feat that it might as well become an Olympic sport, at this point. Below are 10 stories of in-laws whose behavior forced their children to stand up to them, for the sake of their significant others.

MIL thinks a wife cooks - husband doesn't.

My MIL was nice until she found out I can't cook. She started being passive-aggressive. Yesterday, she visited with her homemade lasagna—my husband's favorite, but brought just enough for the two of them. I figured it was just another 'mom-son moment,' so I quietly left the room.

But then, I overheard her telling my husband, "Listen to me, in 3 years, you will have to divorce her. A wife who can’t cook can’t take care of her man." I felt my stomach drop.

Then I heard my husband said, "Really, Mom? Three years? That’s funny because that’s exactly how long I gave you before cutting you off for disrespecting my wife." Since then, my MIL never mentioned my cooking again.

The exit is that way.

During my first pregnancy, my mother-in-law, who had already been making negative comments about my weight gain, started coming over to our house uninvited. She had made it her mission to redecorate the nursery we were already decorating. She’d just walk in and start rearranging things.

For example, she put a pillow in the crib. I removed it, calmly explaining to her that a pillow was a safety hazard. To which she replied, “Oh, well, I’ve had three children” and “I really think you should take more of my advice.” And then looked me in the eyes and said, “You’re really not going to be a good mother at this rate.”

I kicked her out and as soon as my husband returned from work, I told him everything. They had a conversation — now guess who’s banned from the nursery and isn’t allowed to come over uninvited? Aggravating_Scar7518/Reddit

FIL tries to out-cook DIL but gets burnt by son.

My husband does all the cooking in our house, and he’s great at it because he learned it from his father, who is incredibly amazing at it. I, on the other hand, am terrible at cooking, and everyone — including my in-laws — know this. But I have since made it my New Year’s resolution to learn, and so I invited my family to dinner, to test out my cooking skills.

I spent the entire day in the kitchen; measuring, rewinding recipes, and turning down my husband’s hearty insistence on helping me. By the time our family members started arriving, I had three courses of YouTube and Pinterest recipes covering our counter, and I was super proud of my efforts. Until my father-in-law walked in and placed two food warmers containing his famous butter chicken on the counter too.

He said he made it to 'save dinner,' even though everyone knew not to bring anything. I gave my father-in-law a forced smile as I thanked him and asked my husband to dish up as I went to sulk. By the time dinner was being served, we all sat down at the table and everyone was talking about how good the food looked. Looking down, I half-heartedly thanked them and told them my father-in-law helped.

"No, he didn't," I heard my husband say. I glanced up, confused. He was inhaling the food on his plate, which, I just noticed, was missing my father-in-law's chicken. "The neighbors really appreciate your chicken, dad," and he continued stuffing his face with my food.

Clear boundaries = Sanity.

We had a heart-to-heart with my in-laws because they were causing so much stress that it was affecting my mental health and our marriage. It was a huge strain on my partner being stuck in the middle.

I kept asking him to setup a dinner or something where we could have a gentle conversation about boundaries (which I would 100% recommend as a first step - maybe dinner while baby is sleeping) and he kept flaking on doing it, and then I snapped and said that I was done seeing them until we had a sit down and worked things out.

It didn’t solve everything, and it takes a lot of effort simply because we’re incredibly different people, and we rub each other the wrong way, but we make it work. It’s made life so much easier having the big issues all dealt with and them respecting our boundaries (even if they don’t agree with them) and it’s lovely to watch my kids having a good relationship with them. -advanced-confusion-/Reddit

Refused to make his spouse the family laughing stock.

Two days ago, my younger brother threw a birthday party for his son at our parents' house. My wife was nervous a little but excited overall, she did her best to find my nephew a good gift and even asked me if we should show up early to help with everything.

We were having fun when my mother started throwing my wife comments like "Try to enjoy yourself a little" "Bored already?" "Try to smile for the picture." But looking at my wife she really didn't look bored at all, she helped with the kids, had conversations with most of the family, even my brother and his wife mentioned how sweet and considerate my wife is (the birthday boy parents).

Whenever my mother said something I tried to change the subject and give her a look to stop because I didn't want to make a scene, that night was about my nephew, not us. We were getting ready to leave when my mother said, "Thanks for trying." My wife said, "Trying what?" My mother said, "You know, to act like you were enjoying yourself."

My older brother laughed hard which made me snap. I told them if this is how things gonna be whenever my wife comes with me then I won't visit ever again until everyone stops with all this. They expect her to act just like my younger brother's wife, to each their personality. Mine just happen to be this calm even when her heart feels like bursting with joy. Head_Flatworm_6298/Reddit

She doesn't play about her husband's life.

My wife's father insisted I join him and my brother-in-law on their bi-annual camping trip. I'm from the city, so I care very little about nature, but I went along, for their sake. While setting up the tent in that concrete-forsaken jungle, I heard the only car we came in, rev, and I looked up to see my father and brother-in-law driving away.

Apparently, they drove to our house and told my wife they're just testing my survival skills. She wasn't having it. She dragged them into the car and forced them to drive to the campsite with her.

I watched my seething wife march towards me, grab me by my hand and push me into the driver's seat. That night, we drove back home - just the two of us. She called the forest patrollers to fetch them in the morning.

He has my back.

My MIL is here for the week to watch my son while his day-care is closed for Spring Break. My MIL has been a boundary stomping nightmare, but we had no choice, and since I’m WFH (working from home), I figured I could keep an eye on her. It’s been better than I thought, and my son has been sleeping rough for about a month (8 months old).

We had a particularly bad night, where my MIL asked if she could take my son and, while crying, I told her no. She finally decided to look into PPA (post-partum anxiety) and PPD (post-partum depression), which she knows I’ve been struggling with, but she didn’t have it ever, so she apparently has been dismissing it. She told me that my anxiety produces cortisol, which gets into my breast milk, which is why my son is so colicky at night, that I needed to be calmer, or he won’t get better (ignoring that he had been sleeping in his crib all night for almost a month prior to this).

She said this with such a straight face that, for once, I don’t think she meant it passive aggressively. I explained to her my treatment and moved on. Well I guess she decided to bring it to my husband, who, bless him, has struggled to not just go along with his mom. And he told her that was rude to say to me and not my son’s problem, and that telling me that wasn’t helpful and if anything made me feel worse.

I’m just so proud of him and happy that he stood up and said "that wasn’t okay" and he did it calmly and firmly. She hasn’t brought it up again, and has been better about following what we want for our son. My husband has made sure to be extra sensitive to my state this week, and I honestly appreciate him so much. Worldly_Science/Reddit

"My wife isn't a heavy spender, mom."

The other day my cat was sleeping on my shoe rack and I thought it was cute, so I took a picture and posted it to Facebook. My fiancé's mother saw this picture and called my fiancé to complain about the fact that I had too many shoes and shouldn't be spending our money on shoes when I have loans to pay.

My fiancé first commented that I don't have that many pairs of shoes, all things considered. He also told her that I've had many pairs since high school and that I buy my shoes from Payless or second hand stores. Most all of my new shoes have been gifts from over the years. His mother didn't care and still went on about how I'm wasting money (saying nothing of the $300 my fiancé spent on new shoes and shirts for work last month, which she knew about).

Finally, my fiancé got fed up and told her that it's our money to spend how we see fit. He basically said we're not stupid and are not blowing money unnecessarily. He asked her to stop policing our spending, especially based on things like Facebook pictures that provide no context for what she's complaining about. This is far from the first time his mother has made comments like these about me, but it's the first time he's stood up to her, and I'm happy to know he has my back. red_raconteur/Reddit

Accidental death, sorry.

My favorite pet goldfish died suddenly one day, and I was bawling because I just couldn’t understand why. We went to the pet store, and they told us they died from eating too much, but I had been following the instructions to the T. My father-in-law then admitted that he had been giving them extra food as he believed that I wasn’t feeding them enough.

I was so upset, that my husband made him conduct my fish’s funeral service in our backyard. Dressed in disbelief and a full suit — because I insisted we do it right, my father-in-law pushed through it, and honestly, at the end of the ceremony, he looked a little bummed out too. He even gave me a hug and apologized again.

Guess who's on the cleaning schedule now?

There's nothing that I dislike more than a messy house. And my sister-in-law has a knack of never cleaning up after herself whenever she visits, even though I've told her countless times about it.

I finally mustered up the courage to tell my husband about this, and he came up with a solid plan - twice a week, she's on the clean-up schedule.

But loyalty to one another in a couple doesn't happen overnight, it has to begin somewhere. Here are 10 stories of people who went on dates that were so bad, that being single seemed like a better option.