Longtime lurker, but I (30M) finally have a win to share. My MIL has always had this bizarre habit of turning everything into a competition with my wife (28F). If I show my wife affection, MIL suddenly needs the same. If I do something nice for my wife, MIL acts like she’s been neglected. It’s not cute—it’s exhausting.
This came to a head last weekend during a family BBQ at our place. At one point, I gave my wife a quick kiss on the forehead while we were grilling—nothing crazy, just a normal couple thing. Cue MIL staring daggers at us like we’d personally offended her. Not even five minutes later, she “tripped” over nothing and dramatically called out, “[My Name], come help your poor MIL up! My ankle is killing me!” (Spoiler: She was fine.)
Normally, I’d play along to keep the peace, but this time, I was done. I handed her the plate I was holding and said, “Here, use this to balance. You’ll live.” She huffed and said, “Wow, you’d never let [Wife’s Name] struggle like this.”
That’s when my wife—bless her—chimed in with, “Yeah, because she doesn’t fake injuries for attention.” DEAD SILENCE. MIL turned bright red and spent the rest of the night sulking by the dessert table.
The best part? My wife and I have been working on setting boundaries in therapy, and this was the first time we both shut her down in the moment. No justifying, no backing down. Just pure, glorious consequences for her nonsense.
MIL left early “with a headache” (shocking), but honestly? Best. BBQ. Ever.
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She sounds exhausting. Also, sounds like she may be sexually harassing you, if I’m reading that all correctly. Which is not cute and is harmful.
Tag-teaming like D-Wade to LeBron