She doesn't want me and my husband to go out . She always want to join us. When we both come home, she will be very rude with me and doesn't have dinner.. When me n my husband talk to each other, she feels neglected and starts her tantrums.... initially when I was newly married , when I spoke to her nicely, she was veryyyy Rude with me and turned her face when I was talking with her.. She pokes her nose in every matter .. I ma a working woman.. She wants me to clean everything onw eekends like windows, refrigerator , everything.... And the way she talks is veryyyy Rude.. She doenst want to go back to her house i.. She is like She will stay with us only.. Pls help me..
1) When I talk with her , she replies Rudely
2) When we take her out with us , she will be normal at home , when we bth go out and come back, She wont have dinner that day and pretends as though she is not well (this has happened couple of times)
3) As I have mentioned earlier, She blasted my husband only because he didn't call her in the noon (He had talked to her in the morning , and after that directly at night) when we both were on a 2 day holiday
4) when I had planned for a surprise outing on my husbands b'day, she asked him to attend some others relative pooja and scolded him saying, Y r you only obeying her words....... This is heights..... Whats my fault.... I cant plan my husbands birthday?? we both cancelled our plan and went to attend that boring relative pooja ... this is heights
4) On weekends, she keep on cribbing clean this that , fridge , windows, interferes in everything
5) Want me to get up early even on weekends
6) insulted me in front of one relative
7) pretends in front of others , and behaves nicely with me just to show others... How can she act????
8) She is not happy even if we want to go abroad.... She want to be with us and She want both of us to take care of her ...
9) On festivals she doesn't want me to visit my mother....
10) She sits idle at home doesn't cook nothing.. after I gof rom office , I need to cook .... In the morning also she wills it in front of the TV
12) She even interferes about the language me and my husband speak.. She scold him , if v both speak in our language ...
Really my life is messed up because of her and one more point.,,, She want to stay with us only ..... she doesn't want to go to her house itseems.... Please Help.... I want o lead a peaceful life with my husband....
Don't take this the wrong way, I'm really sorry that you're having a hard time, but your MIL is upset, isn't she.
Is your husband her only son?
The thing is, you won't need me to tell you that all mothers have certain expectations of their adult sons, and Indian mothers… have legendary expectations. I know you know that better than I do.
I think perhaps your husband might have been rather naïf? If you and he are both young working professionals, with a progressive outlook on life, did he perhaps expect his mother to 'come round' to his way of thinking?
It sounds as if she is pretending to, to please him, but hasn't in her heart of hearts. And although hypocrisy is wrong, what is she to do? How can she change her own core hopes, values and beliefs simply because her son asks her to?
Well, now. Of course I'm guessing, and I'm sure the background is much more complicated than that, but there you are, with a number of options available to you.
1. Give up. Get out before children arrive and somebody gets really hurt.
2. Revise your expectations of your MIL. Come on, you know what her problem is. You know what the perfect Indian DIL is like, and it starts with her being the mother's approved choice. And goes on to her becoming the perfect housewife, mother, chair of key local committees and most highly-paid member of the legal/medical/dental profession in town. Oh, and MIL's Best Best Friend. Which doesn't give you much of a chance, but you have to play the cards you've got. You're very young, and that means MIL is going to be with you for many years to come. Can you get used to her? Do you have enough patience, determination, compassion and faith in your marriage to make this work?
3. I know we're not supposed to mention this any more, but are there dowry issues outstanding?
4. What about your own family? Can you talk this over with your own mother, do you have any sisters to confide in? What is their attitude to your husband?
You mention opportunities to go abroad - do you mean for a vacation, or for work, or as a permanent move?
How long ago did your MIL lose her husband? Before or after you married?
I'm sorry to bombard you with so many questions, I'd just like to understand better what's going on.
Ah well, that rules that answer out then.
Joking aside, Riya, how old are you? How long have you been married? And - if you don't mind my asking - was your MIL happy with how you and your husband met and married?
I am a widow. I am healthy. There is NO WAY it would be right for me to live in my son's home and make demands and be judgmental. It would not be right for me to be rude to my daughter-in-law whether I lived with her or not.
If you lived in Indiana and not in India I would not hesitate to tell you that your Mother in Law should move out NOW and that if your husband won't arrange that you should think long and hard about whether to stay in that marriage.
But I can't tell you what is "right" in India.
It is not that family don't live with each other here. One son and one step-daughter are living in my house. They pay rent and for food, and that income allows me to afford to continue to keep the house. We respect each other. There are never rude words spoken. We each do the tasks we've agreed to. I clean the windows whenever I think they need cleaning and if one of them doesn't like that they are welcome to clean the windows themselves! :) I "wait on" them for dinner, because providing meals is something they are paying me for. (I love cooking.) I don't wait on them for anything else.
We each go where we want to and when. We tell each other when we will be gone, for meal planning purposes, but I don't expect either of them to take me with them. Nor would I always want them with me! We do things together sometimes because we like to. But just because I am a widow doesn't make them responsible for my entertainment!
I am just trying to explain that the North American attitude is not that different generations of family can't live together. It is that one family member is not expected to wait on others, and in no circumstances (among healthy people) is rudeness acceptable.
(And here, generally for a son to call his mother 3 times a day while he is vacationing with his wife would be considered excessive and maybe not quite healthy. But I have no idea how it is viewed in India.)
You need to have a talk with your husband. It's his mother, his problem. Tell him you're tired from working full-time and you want to spend weekends doing things with him, and not cleaning windows. I'm afraid that if your husband doesn't have your back on this you're going to be in for a rough ride, especially if he won't man up and put his wife and his marriage first.