Tag Archives: difficult in-laws

Complaining to Your Spouse about In-Laws

Several different articles so far have addressed in-laws. We have discussed holiday dinners with difficult in-laws, living with in-laws, and other in-law scenarios. It is no doubt that in-laws have gathered a bad stereotype when it comes to marriage. In many cases it is thought that in-laws are not supposed to get along. Once married, women are thought to have to tiptoe around their husbands’ mothers and men are thought to be afraid of their wives’ fathers. Yet this does not always hold true, there are many in-law relationships out there that are perfectly great. However, even if you have … Continue reading →

Dealing with Difficult In-Laws (4)

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Remember Elise with the mother-in-law who showed 15+ movies to her young grandchildren and thought it was okay to do so? Let’s have a look at how Elise and her partner, Carl, dealt with the situation. Just to recap, we had a situation where child minding for Elise and Carl came with an added twist. Carl’s mother, Helen, collected DVDs for the grandchildren, but she took no notice of the censor’s rating for each movie. On one overnight stay, Helen showed a movie that was rated for mature audiences to her four grandchildren, aged 11, nine, eight, and six. It … Continue reading →

Dealing with Difficult In-Laws (3)

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In Dealing with Difficult In-Laws (1) we met Claire, who had a three-week-old daughter, sleeping problems, breast feeding problems, and a highly intrusive mother. Claire was also showing signs of developing post-natal depression, including frequent bouts of anxiety, uncontrolled weeping, and difficulty coping with her new baby. But for Claire, her biggest problem was her mother. Claire’s mother, Julie, had always exercised a lot of control over Claire’s life. She had influenced many of Claire’s life choices, including the city she lived in, the college she had attended, and even the suburb she was currently living in. Now that the … Continue reading →

Dealing with Difficult In-Laws (2)

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Want to find out what’s happening with Helena and Dave, and Dave’s “fun” brother, Dean? How about Claire and her intrusive mother, and Elise and Carl and the mother-in-law who just won’t hear? Read on! In the last article on Dealing with Difficult In-Laws (1), we read that Helena and Dave had a problem with Dave’s brother, Dean. Or at least Helena had a problem with Dean and his constant money borrowing. Dave seemed to think that, as it was only $50 here and there (plus the occasional bigger hit), it was all okay. Helena, as we remember, wanted to … Continue reading →

Dealing with Difficult In-Laws (1)

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Although mothers-in-law bear the brunt of the “difficult in-law” tag, family in-law problems come in many different guises and are not restricted to mothers, or even to females. Let’s take a look at some examples where a marriage is under siege due to problems with extended family members. Scenario 1: Helena and Dave are a busy, working couple in their early 30s with no children. Both hold responsible jobs and work long hours. Dave’s brother, Dean, is single, changes his job regularly to follow his main interest—surfing—and is an easy-going, genuinely fun guy. People enjoy his company, including Helena and … Continue reading →