Just for a laugh

Sadly my MIL wasn’t a bit like that! She disliked me on sight and made no secret of it, even after 50 yrs she always thought that MrOops could have done better so we rarely visited her.

It’s good that your husband had a lovely Mum.

We spent a lot of time decorating our hallway in tartan( it was the 60 s!) Mil comment, ‘ at least it’s clean ‘

My children went through a phase of wearing ripped jeans and my MIL wanted them to take them off so she could sew them up. Great lady whom I miss very much. Oh and I remember when they were babies she knitted something called a pilche (not sure of spelling) which was like a babygro with enormously long legs. Made us all laugh and she took the mild teasing with good grace.

DMiL had and still has an ability to put people down in their place
I love her but even at 97, I have to brace myself.
Her latest to me as I arrived wearing my nice off-white raincoat was I looked like a laboratory assistant.
I have got used to her over 50 years but my poor DiLs get very upset
When meeting my tall DiL she commented on her height which has never been forgotten or forgiven

My MIL is lovely and has always been very supportive, but she does say things that are blunt, to say the least. One I particularly remember was when I chose what I thought was a very apt little extra Xmas gift that I thought she'd love. When she'd opened all her presents, she held this particular present aloft and stated to the whole family "I don't want this, does anyone else want it?"!! That was the first time and I was rather shocked! Since then, she has, on numerous occasions, done the same, not just to me! It makes me laugh that she'll often tell us about her MIL who was equally blunt (and thoughtless!) with no realisation that she does exactly the same!!! She's 92 and I love her to bits though.

Mine was like Oops - never really liked me, although I helped her most in later life.
Her stock phrase was ‘well, as long as you like it’ - applied to any new clothes I wore, how my hair was cut, even the perfume I wore.

Cornflower my own DM was like that
I made her a pretty apron for one Christmas.
On a later visit I went to do the dishes and asked for an apron. She opened a drawer and pulled out the apron saying "you can keep that if you like, someone gave it to me and I never wear it!"
Ouch
Can we have a thread about holding grudges and how to let them go?

I had a truly wonderful mother-in-law and I cannot add any more to that.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

My MIL was lovely. She’d do anything for me except get on the ferry to come and see us. Not even a new baby changed that. When we moved, she’d come to stay, bringing home-cooked food parcels and immediately get the hoover out, even though everything was pristine for her visit.
I was offended at first, but DH just said, “She likes doing it. Don’t sit still too long or she’ll dust you too.”

My mother in law hated me. Until her DS and I were divorced and he remarried. Then she decided I was wonderful and it was the new wife she hated.

My mother-in-law was fine, we never fell out. But unfortunately she was completely deaf and wouldn't wear her hearing aid, so it was hard to have a real conversation with her.
I never felt I knew her properly.

Light hearted? 🤔🤔🤔
I loved my MIL as did my late DH and if I could be the Granny she was to my children, I would be proud.
I am really uncomfortable pursuing the MIL stereotype.
Most of us are MILs - would we be happy to read comments such as these on Mumsnet?
Lighthearted- really?
Mocking- possibly
Unkind- maybe

Oh yes, meant to be light-hearted, sorry. Well, as a result of my mother-in-laws deafness we had some hilarious misunderstandings in our conversations, of course. I wish I could remember some of them now. She died many years ago.

Never had a MiL or a FiL, Mr. B lost his parents at a young age.

GagaJo

My mother in law hated me. Until her DS and I were divorced and he remarried. Then she decided I was wonderful and it was the new wife she hated.

Similar to me. My Mil knew my family and always threatened to tell my mother if I confronted her. It came to a head when BIL arrived with his wife-to-be, I suddenly grew wings and a hallo, unfortunately, she had done it once too often and we had moved away.
She still tried though, my baby had something wrong with their hip and wore a splint, she would not let us visit until it was removed "Incase the neighbours saw it". She also told me after a very difficult C-section, that if Darwin's theory was right I should have died and not passed the defect on.
I couldn't stop myself post-natal and still highly unsettled I reminded her that she had had a c-section because the cord was around the baby's neck, perhaps it should have been around hers and worked.

My Mil was lovely on the whole but when we were first married and for quite some time afterwards she would send round bits of baking, pies etc. in case her dear son went hungry. I’m sure my son and Dil have the odd joke about me but that’s fine with me,

My MIL was a tough cookie. But I later understood why she had to be. And yes, her tongue was sharp! She was exactly the same height as me, but she would remarks like 'of course my legs are much longer' and other times 'of course my torso is much longer'. One day I did smile and say 'look Kay, we are both 5'3, so either your legs are longer, and your torso shorter, or t'other way round', but they can't both be longer'. She gave me the look, but never said it again.

She told one German girl who was staying with us on an exchange, who had cut her hair very short on one side, and long on the other- and like baggy jeans and dark nail varnish (and she was very pretty and fun) 'why do young people like to make themselves deliberately so ugly'. She was quite something!

She likes to 'test' the kids. One Christmas, she gave them 1 envelop each- the oldest one with a fiver, and the youngest with a tenner and stood there, watching for a reaction. They both smiled and said thank you- and only told me afterwards.

My MIL was always asking "Are you on the change yet?" I loved her to bits though.

Not MIL but the best foot in mouth I came across midway through a nasty divorce from my abusive and multiply adulterous husband.A lady who knew us both on hearing that I was divorcing him said "oh,poor Andy,he's never had much luck with women." She then looked absolutely mortified by what she had just said.

My MIL didn't like me either. From the outset it was clear how their family dynamic worked.........husband went out to work......wife stays at home.........son starts work.........wife does all the cooking cleaning laundry shopping mending gardening.........whilst husband and son sit and do nothing at home - because they go out to work.
I married son........and despite also working full-time was expected to follow her example and wait on my OH hand and foot - I was such a bad DIL because hr son had to wait for his dinner when he finished work before I did! TOUGH!

Both my mother and her sister were past masters of the disapproving comment.

Neither of them intended to be amusing with it, nor were they.

I have taken great care in my adult life to engage my brain before opening my mouth, so as not to end up like them.

I really admire those of you who are big enough to find these remarks and actions mentioned here funny. My sister and I were hurt by them to the point of feeling like throwing clothes we had just bought straight into the bin. We didn't, we kept them and wore them when we knew we would not be seeing family.

My own mum was like that. When I got a new coat and tried it on for her she said "it makes you look bigger than ever". I was a size 14! Another time she mentioned about my old friend becoming a teacher. She said "he only went to your school". In other words, we didn't go to grammar school. Despite this I loved her dearly.

MawtheMerrier, I was very lucky in my MiL, too, and so is my dd, but evidently quite a lot of people aren’t, so I don’t see why they shouldn’t have a moan about them.

One particular MiL-moan I remember (from MN) concerned ILs who supposedly just came to feed the cat while DiL and family were away.

While there, the MiL took it upon herself to go into her son and DiL’s bedroom, rummage around, and collect up and throw out a lot of cherished books from DiL’s childhood, plus a lot of memorabilia - photos and so on. All taken away by the bin men before they returned.

Of course, she was ‘Only trying to help with a bit of decluttering’ and cried and played the victim, when it was made plain to her that such behaviour was completely unacceptable.