20 Mothers-in-Law Whose Actions Are Hard to Understand and Impossible to Forget

It often happens that mothers-in-law try to interfere in the life of a young family. They sincerely believe that they know better how to raise children, how to run the household and how to distribute the budget. And if they can’t keep their valuable opinion to themselves, this behavior often becomes the reason of misunderstandings and curiosities.

• My 3-year-old son began to eat really badly. I even wanted to take him to the doctor. And then suddenly my mother-in-law said that my child was eating just fine when at her place. I decided to look at what so delicious she cooked, and was stunned: there was fried meat in herbs and sauce, fried potatoes, pickles and tomatoes, a jar of condensed milk, and a chocolate cake for dessert on the table.
  It was weird because my mother-in-law usually cooked homemade delicious low-calorie food for family get-togethers. I asked her why she would feed this to a 3-year-old, and she replied, “Well, he wants it.” © Mamdarinka / VK
• After the wedding we went on holiday, left the keys to my mother-in-law to water the plants. When we returned, I was stunned: in the wardrobe, there were some grandmother’s panties of immense size instead of my lace thongs!
  I unfolded one of them, and a note fell out saying, “Mary, you should now remember that you are not just a woman, but a future mother. You must take care of your health from a young age. Wear normal panties. And I burned yours.”
  I was shocked! I told my husband to pay for my new underwear and to change the lock, otherwise I don’t know what I will do. My husband laughed, but he gave me the money.
• The other day, a neighbor gave me a recipe that once won the heart of her mother-in-law. My relationship with my mother-in-law is very strained, so I would definitely need such a recipe. And then my mother-in-law promised to come over.
  I woke up in the morning to make her this berry pie. I tried very hard, and it turned out quite well. My mother-in-law tasted it and her verdict was, “Nothing special!” But I still consider it a victory because she had never even tasted my food before. © Mamdarinka / VK

• So I have been with my girlfriend for a bit over a year. She is the love of my life, and the only problem is the witch of a mother she has. My girlfriend is very low contact with her mom as she is a judgmental and crazy. She has constantly criticized my girlfriend to the point of her crying every time she talks to her.
  Well, we are expecting our first child. It was not planned, but a welcomed surprise, and we are super happy about it. My girlfriend told her father, as she is very close to him, and my mother-in-law overheard it. She has demanded that we use the name she wants and that it’s her way or no way. I told her that we as parents are gonna choose what name our child gets, and she has no part in it.
  Well, as expected, she told my girlfriend that either she uses the name she picks or she won’t ever be in our child’s life. And to that we told her that’s probably for the better. She then started to cry, saying we can’t ban her from seeing her first grandchild. I told her that if she thinks I would ever allow her to be near our child, then she must be delusional. © Unhappy_Plankton_287 / Reddit
• My mother-in-law came to visit and started, “Why doesn’t my granddaughter recite poems at the age of 2? The neighbor’s little girl already recites poetry! And knows the whole alphabet, not like ours!”
  I was stunned by these claims, but didn’t get confused and retorted, “And my neighbor’s mother-in-law walks with her granddaughter for 4 hours every day. Not like you, who comes to visit once every 6 months.” The mother-in-law pursed her lips and never spoke about her neighbor again.
• 6 months ago, I found a cool purse at a thrift shop for only $8. I tied a scarf on it and all kinds of beads-pendants, I love it this way. My husband and I often have dinner at my mother-in-law’s place, who loves minimalism and prefers neutral colors in her clothes.
  The first time she saw my purse, she said it was too loud. From then on, every time we went to her house, she would make a comment like “Are you still carrying that thing around everywhere?” It got to the point that I just started leaving my purse in the car.
  However, a month ago we all went to a restaurant where my mother-in-law saw my purse again and said, “Please leave this thing in the car.” This hit a nerve with me, and we had a tiff over it. Then last week we went to her house for dinner again and she, beaming, handed me a beige bag. “Put it on,” she said. “Don’t you like it?”
  I don’t like having something I don’t intend to use. I said thank you, but declined the gift, as the bag was not my style at all. My mother-in-law got so offended, she even cried. Well, I’m not going to entertain her by dancing to her tune. © HereForParanormal / Reddit

• I came to the village to meet my future mother-in-law after work on Friday evening. We had dinner, chatted, and went to bed. At 6 a.m., she woke me up, saying that it was time to water the vegetable garden and weed the weeds while it was still cool morning. I got up, had breakfast, and went home.
  My future wife arrived on Sunday evening. I calmly explained to her that I don’t need this vegetable garden. I have a hard physical work in the production, and if I work in the vegetable garden on weekends, my chances of living to retirement will be minimal, and I can buy potatoes and pumpkins in the grocery shop.
  My wife agreed. My mother-in-law tried to pull this trick a few more times, and I left without conversation and explanations. Over time, they got away from me. © BanPObespredelu / Pikabu
• My mother-in-law is one of the types who denies any kind of resemblance and likeness between me and my little one. It’s like I’m not even involved. Everything the little one does, every feature, etc. is HER family.
  Weirdly, it’s always her or her daughter or her siblings she compares the little one to, never her own son, the father. And especially not me. Even her friends come up to me at church/at events to tell me how much the little one looks just like the mother-in-law’s family.
  It’s finally gotten to me. First of all, the little one is my twin. It’s undeniable. Secondly, as the default parent, the little one has picked up many, many of my mannerisms, not the mother’s-in-law when she sees the little one 4 times a year for an hour and sits and does nothing.
  So this weekend, I decided to get a little petty. I found a picture of myself at the same age as the little one and made a photo collage and posted it. Then I tagged the mother-in-law in the post because 1) she’s on limited profile, so I wanted to make sure she would see it and 2) I wanted her friends to see it (I’m not friends with them).
  The picture has gotten over 60+ comments of people saying how much we look like twins. The mother-in-law has not liked or commented on it. And I know she’s seen it because she’s on Facebook 24/7 to the point where I’ve gone to hide a Facebook story from her the second after I posted it, and she’s already viewed and commented on it. I know the mother-in-law is just seething right now, and I’m so happy. © russo049 / Reddit

• My husband was raised in a completely matriarchal family. When we got married 6 years ago, his mother tried to take over the control of our family for a long time. I fought back like a lioness. My husband, young and totally in love, diligently supported me even though he didn’t feel comfortable about it.
  Recently, my husband’s parents came to visit us and everything was more or less normal until our 2-year-old daughter reached for a strawberry and got a smack on the lips from her “beloved grandmother.” Everyone freaked out, but my husband and his father remained silent, and naturally I stood up for my daughter and demanded an explanation of what happened.
  My mother-in-law said that little children can’t eat strawberries. I replied that I was giving my daughter strawberries, and heard back that I was a terrible mother. Seeing no support or defense from my husband, I packed up my and my daughter’s stuff, and called a taxi to my parents’ house. We went downstairs, and my husband didn’t even follow us.
  But my father-in-law did. It’s funny, but he asked me to take him with me, and I didn’t refuse. We’re sitting here now, the three of us, having tea at my parents’ house. And I am shocked that my family life was destroyed in one day. © Mamdarinka / VK
• I am 25 years old, my wife is 23 years old. My mother-in-law didn’t like me from the very start. She thinks I’m not capable of anything. “Are you sure you know how to butter your bread?”, “Do you really think you can cope with the role of a father? You can’t even keep the house clean!”
  When our baby was born, I changed her nappies, rocked her to sleep, cooked meals for my wife and me. But my mother-in-law didn’t give up, “Do you know how to hold the baby? Don’t drop it,” she said, hovering over me like a hawk. My wife’s mom insisted that we feed our daughter formula, even though my wife was determined to breastfeed.
  One day, I walked into my daughter’s room and saw my mother-in-law giving the baby formula. I snatched the bottle from her and said, “What are you doing?” And she replied in such confidence, “My granddaughter needs formula, so I can take her home with me.”
  I couldn’t take it anymore and said, “I don’t know who you think you are, but that’s my daughter. And my wife decided that she’s going to breastfeed her. And if you don’t agree with that, get out of here!” The mother-in-law just turned away and left. Good riddance. © Fickle_Demand9443 / Reddit

• I was dating a girl. I was living with my parents, working hard and saving for a down payment for a flat. She was living with her parents. Her parents found out about my desire to get into the mortgage and started talking.
  They said, it’s not good for their daughter to live in someone else’s flat with no rights for it (just in case, I haven’t bought it yet and didn’t invite anyone to live with me). Get married first and then get a family nest.
  My intentions for their daughter were very serious, so I voiced a counterproposal, “I have 50% of the amount. Why don’t you give your daughter another half, and we’ll buy the property in half without getting married?” I ended up being labelled mercantile and over the next 2 months our relationship quickly fizzled out. © dolbokluy / Pikabu
• My mother-in-law gave my son a book, except he doesn’t want to read it. Just yesterday we were at her house, so she began to ask our boy how he liked the book, and he, of course, couldn’t say anything. My mother-in-law got so angry that I didn’t read with him, that she almost ate me there.
  I was so tired of her complaints that I said, “Why don’t you come and read with him yourself?! You can only give. I have a job, I can’t spend all my time with the child!” She said she would come... We’ll see. © Mamdarinka / VK
• My mother-in-law and I have a not really good relationship, and we don’t miss an opportunity to make a dig at each other. I remember at the beginning of the relationship with my husband, she used to reproach me that I couldn’t cook well and used to bring us food in plastic containers.
  Many years have passed since then, I constantly bake and spoil my loved ones with different goodies. My daughter is 3.5 years old. Yesterday, we picked her up from my mother-in-law’s and asked her how she spent the time with her grandmother. The little one replied that it was good.
  That same night, she walked into the kitchen and offered to help make dinner. She had never shown any interest in cooking before, so I was surprised. And my daughter took up the plate and said, “Grandma says I need to know how to do everything, otherwise my husband will have to eat out of plastic containers.”
  I realized the woman talked about me, so I replied, “No, honey, you’ll be fine. And food is not the main thing in life. The main thing is not to overprotect your son when he grows up.” © Mamdarinka / VK

• My mother-in-law happened to live with us for a month. We have a normal relationship with her, but still 2 women in the house is trouble. Every day, she complained about something to me, but we never fought.
  When my mother-in-law realized that I wasn’t interested in her opinion, she took matters into her own hands. For example, if the tiles in the kitchen seemed not clean enough to her, she didn’t tell me about it, but cleaned them herself. But she did it late at night, when everyone was asleep. It made me terribly nervous.
  I asked my husband to do something about it, and he came up with a brilliant solution. My husband told his mum that we had installed an alarm system, so you can’t walk around the house at night, otherwise the police will come straight away. At first, I laughed and didn’t believe it would work, but my mother-in-law really calmed down. It was the best 2 weeks of living with her. © Mamdarinka / VK
• My mother-in-law favors the children that look like my husband. We have 4 kids, 2 that look like him, and 2 that look like me. With the ones that look like me, she goes around saying to everyone that she doesn’t know who they look like, and she doesn’t recognize traits from anyone on her side. She pointed it out all of the time before we finally went no contact. © momplicatedwolf / Reddit
• My mother-in-law really wanted a grandson. So much so that she had already thought of a name for him and bought baby clothes in blue color. We asked her not to rush things, but she is a stubborn woman. She even told her friends that we’ll have a boy, because of my remarkable belly.
  In the end, we had a healthy, beautiful girl. My mother-in-law behaved strangely, was even a little upset at first. But then she got over it and accepted her granddaughter.
  But now she insists that we should soon give birth to a second child, and this time to a boy. I treat this with humor, I tell her to ask her second son to make her happy with a grandson. We had a child for ourselves. © Mamdarinka / VK

• Planting and digging up potatoes comes to the peak of my earnings. I politely tried to explain to my ex mother-in-law that for the time spent on their potatoes, I could earn so much that it would be enough to buy their whole plot with a house and all their crops. And it’s easier and more profitable for me to buy potatoes than to work hard in their garden, losing a good income.
  Unfortunately, my arguments didn’t work. They kept on saying, “You eat it, and you don’t want to help! You’re lazy!”
  Then I took more harsh measures: I rudely stated that we wouldn’t eat their potatoes, and if I see them in my house, I will throw them off the balcony. They didn’t believe me. When they came to visit, they brought a full bag of potatoes. And the bag went down from the second floor. Only after that they left me alone. © Nero59 / Pikabu
• My mother-in-law was as weird as ever at our kid’s birthday party last night. This woman looks at a 5-year-old girl eating her birthday cake, points at her, and firmly says “Type 2 diabetes” not once, but 3 times. Luckily, my little girl is a majestic unicorn queen who didn’t know or care what the crazy lady was talking about, because she only has eyes for frosting (slay all day, you beautiful creature).
  Then, the mother-in-law lectured my husband not to take his blood pressure medication. Pills are bad. Eat more leafy greens. +10 points to him for saying, “You are not a doctor.” © IWillBaconSlapYou / Reddit

• My mother-in-law came to visit us a week ago. My husband is away on business, and she’s behaving terribly.
  For example, we’re sitting down to eat. My toddler brought a big toy truck to the table. I reminded him, “No toys when we’re eating. Please put the truck back into the toy box. Finish eating and you can go on playing.” My son got up to carry the truck back and then my mother-in-law let out, “It’s okay, honey, Grandma says it’s okay.”
  This is not an isolated incident. She tried to let the kids eat sweets instead of dinner, told them they can do things I just told them not to, and so on. I got so tired of it that I said, “Let’s not forget that Grandma is just a guest here. Guests don’t make the rules, do they?” She was red and called me disrespectful but didn’t escalate it any further.
  That same evening, my husband called me and started yelling, “How dare I be rude to his mother?” And I said that since the house was mine, it was the last time she was staying with us. I was sick of feeling uncomfortable in my own home. © Helpful_Intern_4904 / Reddit
• My husband and I and our 1-month-old daughter went to visit my mother-in-law. She had prepared 2 rooms for us: one for my daughter and me, and one for my husband, because “a man needs to sleep.” My husband said that we would sleep together. So it was night. My daughter woke up, my husband got up to rock her.
  Then the door swung open, the mother-in-law and sister-in-law rushed in and started yelling at me, “Wake up, your daughter is crying!” I said that she is with her father, everything is okay, and my mother-in-law said to me, “Aren’t you the mother? My son has a work meeting in the morning!” My husband told them to leave.
  When we woke up at 7 a.m., my daughter wasn’t there. It turned out that my mother-in-law had taken her to the garden, and she said to me, “What’s the big deal? All you do is sleep!” At breakfast, she and the sister-in-law commented on how I let my husband do everything.
  So I snapped and said, “I didn’t make this baby alone. The father is right here, and parenting is done by both parents. Keep your noses out of my marriage and mind your own goddamn business.” And we left that house. © WeekMaleficent6736 / Reddit

And here’s a story of a woman whose mother-in-law tries to be her baby’s mother. Check out what happened next.