18 Mothers-in-Law Whose Actions Are Like From a Bad Comedy

Our mothers-in-law don’t have to be our second mothers, but everyone wants a good, respectful relationship with them. It’s not easy to establish and maintain this relationship. Especially if the husband’s mother does things that make you want to say, “Just wow!”

• When I was young, I dated a man about 7–8 years older than me. His mother took me aside 5 minutes after I met her and told me, “Hurry up and have a baby. My son is old enough. He urgently needs a family and children.” And then added that she already has a grandson from her daughter, so I need to give birth only to a girl. End of story!
  I politely said that I would start following her instructions as soon as possible. After a couple of weeks of watching my man start his day with an obligatory call to his mum, and then report back to her in the evening, I decided that I didn’t need that kind of happiness. © CatKate / ADME
• I got a complaint from my mother-in-law that I exploited her son. Indeed, he’s been out of work for 2 months. I make him cook and clean the home once a week. He also has to buy groceries, take clothes to dry-clean, take the car to wash and repair, to control utility bills.
  My mother-in-law dreams that I sit at home and take care of the household. Unfortunately, it’s the other way around, so she is furious that her son is being exploited. © Overheard / Ideer
• When I started dating my future husband, I dropped a phrase during a meal, “Mm... Just like mom’s!” Turns out, in their family, it means completely inedible. My mother-in-law has a knack for ruining even those things that are hard to ruin.
  Family dinners are a nightmare to me. The most delicious thing at the last one were sandwiches made by my father-in-law. But my mother-in-law is greedy in general: less salt, less butter, all spoiled and expired food is carefully stored in the fridge for further use. She has never had any money problems. © aksinya86 / Pikabu

• My husband has been hinting lately that I’ve “neglected myself.” But we have 3 children, and I have more important things to do than my nails and hair. So, my mother-in-law came to visit, and my husband told her: “Mom, my wife stopped taking care of herself lately.”
  My mother-in-law immediately said, “Really? But you don’t seem to take care of her. Where are the flowers, where are the gifts, when did you even cook food last time to let her rest? Stop it. Because if you don’t, someone else will take care of her.”
  After this conversation, my husband stopped nagging me. © Mamdarinka / VK
• We live with my mother-in-law. Once, I come back from work in the evening and find our bed looking like someone slept on it. And I always carefully make the bed, and my husband is at work all day.
  I ask my mother-in-law, “Has someone been here?” She’s silent. And only a couple of weeks later, I found out that my mother-in-law stacked her canned food under our bed. © Mamdarinka / VK
• When our child was 18 months old, my mother-in-law required her son’s help at the country house on weekends. All summer, my husband obediently worked there, and the mother-in-law collected berries. On weekdays, she demanded he pick her up from work.
  After 3 months, I snapped and said that my husband is needed at home. And my mother-in-law grabbed her heart and said, “Who will help me if not my son?” I started to feel like a third wheel in this relationship. I realize it’s going to get even worse over time. © Cucumber***** / Pikabu

• My mother-in-law insists that we buy presents to all her relatives, although we have no money for that. We are a young couple, my husband is still a student, and so far I am supporting both of us with my small salary. Yesterday my husband’s mom called and said that we should buy presents for his 5 siblings, niece, and his parents. And I have a family, too. © Evie_Magazine / Twitter
• My mother-in-law showed her true colors right at our wedding. She grabbed the microphone from the host and said she wanted to give a toast to honor the newly-weds. After a pause, she said something that stunned everyone, “My dear children, I want to wish you true love, even though you’ve made a mistake!”
  She didn’t say anything else during the entire evening. My husband tried to convince me that she meant something different. But from that moment on, I’ve never wanted to speak to her again. It’s been a year now, and I still don’t.
• I didn’t know how to make my mother-in-law stop slurping. She’s very sensitive. One day we were eating together with her and my nephew. And then she asks him not to slurp, but she herself... I couldn’t stand it and said loudly to my nephew, “Stop it already, because I can’t stand people who slurp!”
  The nephew and mother-in-law closed their mouths simultaneously. They’ve been eating in silence ever since. Now I think how to persuade them to close the toilet door when using it and wash their hands. © Overheard / Ideer

• My mother-in-law regularly gives my husband and me clothes, but there is one thing about them. They are of the wrong size.
  For example, she gave us a jacket that was 10 sizes bigger than any of us. She also gave us a lot of T-shirts that are way smaller than any of us. She also gives us old-fashioned dinnerware sets.
  When we tell her that we don’t need it, she takes offense and says, “You are so hard to please.” And for the birth of our child, she gave him clothes that will fit him only in 2 or 3 years... © Mamdarinka / VK
• When my mother-in-law found out that we would be paying for pregnancy care, she took me aside and quietly said, “Don’t pay the whole amount at once, you don’t know what might happen. You understand, don’t you? You know what I mean?” After a while, I cut off communication with her. © KoloBasya / ADME
• My mother-in-law, on her first visit, decided to show me the photos of my husband’s previous wedding while he wasn’t around. It was a very flashy wedding in the Czech Republic, but they divorced immediately, lived not even a day together. And then she said, “Don’t think anything. I just find these photos very beautiful.” © Azarika / ADME

• My mother-in-law taught me how to cook, and I ended up cooking better than her. I guess she got jealous. She once gave me a recipe for herring pie. I cooked it and it was weird.
  My husband wouldn’t eat it, but my mother-in-law started laughing. She comes up to me and says, “I made you a good cook, but not a less gullible person.” © Mamdarinka / VK
• A coworker’s daughter got married 6 months ago. Her mother-in-law began to nag her that the husband is the head of the family, and he should have a share in the flat, so that he felt himself completely in charge. Although the girl is young, she said that when they earn and buy housing, then he will have his share.
  Now the mother-in-law is telling her son that he is not valued in this family, so he should run away from there. It’s good at least that they decided not to hurry with children. © Overheard / Ideer
• We bought a flat, but we needed to renovate it first so that we could live there. And this would take about a month. My husband’s brother suggested that we stay at his place for the time being, because he was alone in a 3-bedroom apartment. I stayed quietly in our room, but cleaned the whole flat constantly and cooked for everyone.
  But when we went to work, my in-laws would come into the brother’s flat and start rummaging in the wardrobe in “our” room. MIL would look at the way our clothes were folded, almost going through our underwear. Then she’d go round saying I was dirty. There was no desire to see her after that. © anishira / Pikabu

• My mother-in-law has a big garden. Suddenly, she breaks her leg and tells us that we need to work in the garden instead of her. Now she sits on a chair and watches me and my husband laboring.
  I immediately thought that there was something tricky about that. But we would never have known about the setup if my friend hadn’t asked me, “Why did your mother-in-law buy so much plaster at the pharmacy?” © Mamdarinka / VK
• Shortly after I had my second child, my gynecologist informed me that for health reasons, I should not give birth again. And my mother-in-law expressed her displeasure, saying that I had ruined her life because she had dreamed of having a grandson to continue her lineage. She reproached me for not putting enough effort to have a boy, that it was my fault that we had girls... The worst part was that even my husband supported her point of view... © Mamdarinka / VK
• I don’t know how to put up with my mother-in-law. The first red flags were at the beginning of the relationship with my future husband, when he came to visit me, and his mother started calling him with a demand to come home and clean up the sand left from his shoes. There were a lot of similar red flags, but I didn’t take them seriously at the time.
  Once on Mother’s Day, we came at 1 p.m. to congratulate my mother-in-law, which made her very indignant. It turns out that we should have congratulated her in the morning! There was also a story when my husband’s grandmother asked us to bring water bottles to the country house. We came, brought them.
  We saw a bush of raspberries and started eating them. A neighbor saw it, called the grandmother. And after 30 minutes, my mother-in-law started reprimanding us for eating raspberries without permission. © hassliebe02 / Pikabu

And here’s another bunch of stories about mothers-in-law. Check them out.