Handling a Difficult Mother-in-law

Posted on December 13, 2007 in Tips for A Husband, Tips for A Wife

Many newly married women find themselves having to put up with stuck-up mother-in-laws. Mother-in-laws are by nature possessive about their sons. And the worse case of possessive mom-in-law is when you marry a single son. His mother tends to see her son’s wife as an alien and doesn’t usually want anyone else to take time off her son. Dealing with such women is pretty difficult even when you are an otherwise humble daughter-in-law. What you need here is solid diplomacy and a good control over your emotions. Here are a few suggestions to handle the issue gracefully.

Don’t alienate yourself – Enter the new home as a welcome member as not as a daughter-in-law. Most newly married young women have the mental block that their husband’s mother is after all a mother-in-law and not a mother. So, she enjoys, at the most a secondary status. Please shed this negative notion if you really wish to avoid later family problems.

Talk to her – The psychology of most new mom-in-laws is just this – they want an assurance from the bride that she is the right person for her son as well as herself. So, employ the ‘first impression’ strategy. Don’t just act, but do it sincerely. Speak to her. Don’t be stuck with your husband all the time. Take your new mum for a walk. Help her out with the house work. And enjoy what comes from all these.

Include her – Treat your mother-in-law as an important person in the family. Include her in general conversations between your husband and you. Sometimes, take her decisions as the final work. Trust me, this will actually eliminate any possibility of her acting as a peeping Tom, since she is now confident that she is not excluded from anything.

Comments

Leave a Reply