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UPDATE on MIL stops by unannounced

(160 Posts)
DoraMarr Fri 17-Jan-20 08:36:20

Try and look at this from your husband’s point of view. If these were your parents and they wanted to see you and the baby, and your husband watched out of the window so he could ignore them, and then complained to you about it, how would you feel? Would you be happy if he was constantly complaining about your mother ?

Urmstongran Fri 17-Jan-20 08:31:25

Perhaps buy an appointment book and hand out appointment cards to your in laws - routine appointments given out up to six weeks in advance?

I think you are being unreasonable. You sound as though you can’t relax around people. On your own pretty much all day with as you say, a ‘needy’ baby. You could do with some laughter during your day. Relax a bit more, watch your baby being played with by her grandparents on a more spontaneous platform.

If I were your mother in law I’d be on pins every visit!

DoraMarr Fri 17-Jan-20 08:08:13

I think you need to stop putting your husband in the middle of all this, and I also think you need to get a sense of proportion. Of course your child’s grandparents want to see him frequently- that’s normal, and since you live so close by they are going to expect it. Why don’t you invite them over at a time that suits you? Do you ever drop in on them? When your father in law was tending the garden, instead of watching out of the window, why didn’t you just invite him in for a cup of coffee? You could have strolled drown with the baby and said “when you’re finished, come and have a drink.” You seem to have built this up into something more than it is. When you marry someone you get their family- that’s all there is to it. If you like them, great, but we all have family members that make us grit our teeth, that’s life.
Insisting on safety - using a car seat- is acceptable, but not letting him watch Italian cartoons? Really?

Yehbutnobut Fri 17-Jan-20 07:28:33

Good question.

Baggs Fri 17-Jan-20 06:53:19

Did the garden belong to your inlaws before you lived there? Did you buy the property from them, or was it a gift?

BlueBelle Fri 17-Jan-20 06:44:42

Are you writing a novel ? Chapter 2 of the drama
Yes do move away then you ll have absolutely nothing to worry about Best all round

GagaJo Fri 17-Jan-20 05:53:22

Typo! Not our, YOUR

GagaJo Fri 17-Jan-20 05:52:36

I think our husbands idea is great. Just move out of the immediate area.

OR tell his parents that's what you'll do if they don't comply. Maybe that would shock them into behaving.

I'm a devoted granny and I don't think you're being unreasonable.

Naty Fri 17-Jan-20 03:00:43

Perhaps they envisioned hands on baby care every day?

I don't need them to take care of my child right now and I honestly wouldn't leave my child with my own family at this point. She's a needy baby and I don't want to stress her out without me. But we see the in-laws 4 or 5 times a week for about an hour each time, and I usually initiate most visits.

Naty Fri 17-Jan-20 02:54:31

I'm updating on my situation (at my peril, I know. Some posters seem to strongly dislike this story..). The unannounced visits have stopped since posting...except for today.

I wouldn't have found it strange, except that my FIL came round at noon to do some gardening (he has vines on our property that he doesn't want to get rid of even though they aren't producing anything) and I pretended not to notice he was there (it's a large property, so it's easy not to spot him from the lower level). He never came to the door. As soon as I spotted him, I stayed upstairs just to see if he'd come to the door so that I could safely ignore it, as we've asked them to just call us before coming.

When my husband came home, he pointedly (and aggressively) told his dad not to peer into the windows and to call if he was stopping by. Apparently, his dad acted like a bad dog who had been hit over the nose with a newspaper (his words, not mine). My husband comes in for lunch and doesn't mention anything to me. As far as he knows, I have no clue his dad was even around. I didn't mention anything to my husband either.

My husband leaves for work.

At 4pm, my FIL comes back, finishes up his gardening and comes up to the house, peering in all the windows. When he gets to the last set, we lock eyes and I was a bit startled. I let him in and we talked for a few minutes. He holds the squirmy baby, trying to wriggle out of his arms as she's shy and then leaves.

He says "oh you only want your mom! Well your mom is your best friend. Then it's your dad. Then it's your grandparents." I find this commentary strange, because this hierarchy is universal, and it's a given...but they always tell the baby some variation of this...

He asks me how baby is doing and tells the baby he hasn't seen her in four days. They also always count the days and comment to the baby about time passed). Mind you, I invited them over 2 days ago, but he didn't come with MIL and MIL has been sick, so she's staying away at my request until 100% better....she said she got really cold the other day and started vomiting at night (she says it was drafty). I told her she probably caught something from someone else and that it could be contagious, so please wait a few says, as baby has taken a week to get over a cold that she still has).

FIL left and I was okay with the unannounced visit, as he hasn't ever done that before unless his wife is around. But when I mentioned his dad coming around later, my husband was shocked that he hadn't called. I too, was then disturbed by the reiteration of a request, ignored by FIL. It's bizarre behaviour, as FIL at noon knew he hadn't finished and was going to come back. He ignored his son's pointed request and peered through the windows anyway. Is this normal?

DH wanted to go and tear a strip off his dad, but he's not great with words and his parents are obviously bad listeners. I'd rather wait it out, but I do think of leaving Italy every day and moving back to Canada and tell my husband this (so he'll follow me...). Writing this out, it all seems crazy and ridiculous. I must be hormonal. Please advise me on this situation and not speculation of my mental state smile.

I was upset about this unannounced visit because it seems like his parents just don't care about reasonable requests and I feel that when I have to go back to work, they won't respect our wishes (putting baby in a carseat/watching English DVDs we give them rather than Italian cartoons). I feel like leaving every day and tell my husband that we shouldn't live around the corner from the in-laws. He said we can pick up and move house to a place outside of walking distance, but I think that's OTT.

Am I being unreasonable?