MayBeMaw
^The idea of a MiL being addressed as Auntie Given_name was just something I thought of. I wondered if it ever happens - it appears from this thread thus far that it does not^
So we are discussing a hypothetical situation which I think all of us who have , have had or have been or who are MILs agree does not exist
So the point is…….?
Concerned at the great distress that gets reported between MiL and DiL in some families, I wondered if the DiL addressing the MiL as Auntie Given_name might result in better relationships.
Bearing in mind that about half of my own aunts and uncles (some of whom were great aunts and great uncles, though "great" was never used except when understanding how they were related to me) were only so regarded because of being married to one of my direct relatives, I wondered if a MiL being addressed and thought of as an aunt might be a helpful way for things to be. As children do not usually address their own parents by their Given_name it just seems peculiar to me that their spouses do.
So I wondered if that is already being done. There is no evidence from this thread that such a practice already exists.
I think it would be nice for a DiL to regard her MiL as if her own aunt.
I just wonder if the tensions in some of the MiL and DiL distress threads might not have happened if the DiL had, by invitation after her marriage, known her MiL as Auntie Given_name, and so the two ladies would have interacted with each other differently. Sort of like a butterfly effect of that little tiny change leading to a very different, happier, result.