Mother-In-Law Nightmares: The Stories That Sparked Major Family Drama

AITA For Kicking Out My Mother-In-Law For Trying To Force My Daughter To Eat Mushrooms?

From Redditor u/doctormom1212:

My husband and I have a daughter (10F) and she HATES mushrooms. The taste, texture and smell of them she cannot stand. She's not a picky eater by any means, but just doesn't like mushrooms.

My mil lives with us and helps us by watching my daughter when she gets home from school. She makes dinner the nights we're working late for our daughter, as mil loves to cook so she ensured us that it would be no trouble for her to make our daughter dinner most nights. My husband and I both work in the medical field, so we have crazy unpredictable schedules and are not home most nights to make dinner. Last night my husband and I both had the night off work and were making dinner together, mil went out for dinner with friends, Susie came to us crying saying how she is sick and tired of being starved most nights and if we can please make her dinners instead of MIL.

It's very public knowledge that Susie doesn't like mushrooms, but yet for the past few weeks every SINGLE dish that my mil has made for Susie has had the main component of mushrooms in it. Portobello mushroom burgers, mushroom risotto, mushroom pasta etc. These dishes aren't made when either myself or my husband are around, but when we aren't that's all Susie is served to eat. She told us that if she politely refuses to eat these dishes, my mil will tell her to "suit herself but she's not getting any other food the rest of the night" and that she "has to outgrow this stupid mushroom hatred". Both my husband and I were extremely upset that our child is going to bed hungry every night due to my mil only making her dinners with the ONE ingredient she doesn't like and not allowing her to eat anything else.

When MIL got home we confronted her about this. She started going off saying that Susie needs to grow up and get over this stupid hatred of mushrooms. I told her that she's essentially starving her granddaughter. She disagreed and said it's tough love. She then proceeded to call me [a sh*t] mother for prioritizing my career over my child and helping her get over this dislike towards a vegetable. I told her to get out of my house because she will not disrespect me like that. She ended up leaving but had some nasty thing's to say to me on the way out.

My husband is 100% on my side and feels that his mother is out of line. We've been getting non stop messages from my 2 SIL's and my MIL calling us every name in the book for kicking her out and that my daughter needs to get over herself. AITA?

AITA For Not Forgiving My Mother-In-Law After She Gave Away My Late Mother's Heirloom?

From Redditor u/Cold_Device5620:

I (30F) am known in my family for my patience and generosity. I've always gone out of my way to help others, and I take pride in being a good person. My husband (32M) and I have a beautiful relationship built on mutual respect and understanding.

My late mother left me a precious heirloom, a vintage necklace that has been in our family for generations. It's not just valuable, but it holds immense sentimental value to me. I've always kept it safe and only wore it on special occasions, cherishing the memories it holds.

Enter my MIL (57F), who has a history of overstepping boundaries. Despite our differences, when she lost her apartment, my husband and I opened our home to her, asking for nothing in return but basic respect for our belongings.

One day, I came home to find my MIL hosting a tea party with her friends, and to my horror, one of her friends was wearing my mother's necklace. When I confronted her, my MIL nonchalantly said she gave it away because she thought it was 'just old jewelry' and that her friend admired it.

I was heartbroken and felt utterly betrayed. My husband was equally appalled and supported my decision to ask her to leave. Now, the rest of the family is painting me as the villain, saying I'm overreacting and should forgive her because 'family is family.'

So, AITA for not being able to forgive this breach of trust?

AITA For Getting My Mother-In-Law Charged With Trespassing?

From Redditor u/SammyandMe35:

I am a widower. I lost my wife (Anne 34) just minutes after she gave birth to our first baby (Sammy). She had a difficult pregnancy so I took an indefinite leave 3 months before she was due. Sammy's 4 months old now and before I went back to work, I told my MIL (Sandra 56) about my plans and if she can recommend a nanny to take care of my daughter when I work. She offered to do it (nanny) for free. I told her she's free to come by anytime during the day if she feels uncomfortable with a nanny looking after Sammy but she insisted on doing it herself. So I said yes and gave her a copy of the house keys. She comes 30 mins. before I leave for work, and when I come home, she stays for dinner and leaves after putting Sammy to sleep.

Everything was fine for the first couple of weeks until I noticed that Sammy's not feeding as much. Her formula's barely touched. I asked Sandra about it and why Sammy's not feeding well. She said she's trying to breastfeed my daughter. At first I thought she was joking then I realized she wasn't. She said Sammy needs to latch for a few minutes everyday to "activate" her milk production. I almost lost it, I told her she cannot do that, and she needs to stop. She said she will but I caught her again when I walked in my daughter's room and she was forcing Sammy to latch. I confronted her and told her she's no longer my baby's nanny. I didn't ask for the key back as she is still welcome to come visit anytime.

I asked for a 1 week leave from work to care for my daughter and find a nanny. I found one but two days after she never returned. I called her and she said my "Mother" fired her the day before. I asked her to describe the woman and I was livid when I realized it was Sandra. She came in my house using her key and fired my nanny. I was about to call her when she showed up and said a convoluted story like how I hired an incompetent nanny, etc. etc. I told her to leave but she refused and told me she's calling CPS because I am endangering my child. We argued back and forth before I called the police and she was charged with trespassing.

I know my MIL is grieving the loss of her daughter, I am too. But she crossed the line when she disregarded my wishes. She is very upset with me. My SIL and BIL are calling me ruthless and I am now second guessing myself. Have I taken it too far by calling the police? AITA?

AITA For Not Letting My Mother-In-Law Name My Child?

From Redditor u/Fantastic_Cow_1594:

I (29F) have been married to my husband (31M) for two years. We went to university together and worked at the same coffee shop. We instantly clicked and became best friends immediately, and after a while decided to date.

The first time I met my MIL, she wasn't very accepting of me and my personality. She, according to my husband, as he told me later, said, "She's too loud and obnoxious. I can't believe you'd date someone like her." I was appalled, obviously, but decided to ignore it instead of confronting her for fear of her openly rejecting me and not approving of our relationship. I never mentioned this incident and according to my husband, she hasn't said anything else.

After my graduation, we decided to get married. My MIL seemed to be pissed about it and was helicopter parenting the whole time. I tried to ignore it, but it got on my nerves. She wanted to decide the color of the flowers, the dress style, the decor, and even the wedding meal.

I couldn't take it anymore and snapped at her. I reminded her that this was my and my husband's wedding, not hers. She was angry and I apologized for snapping at her, but to be honest, I was exhausted from all the wedding preparations with her backseat driving.

Long story short, the wedding went well, and while she gave me a few dirty looks, she didn't do anything. Last year, I got pregnant and had my baby on March 16th of this year. We didn't decide to name her until the last month of my pregnancy. My husband and I were thinking of names and landed on Andromeda. We thought it was gorgeous and because we both loved astronomy, it was the perfect name. My husband was especially excited about this name (he's always been a bit of a geek, in the cutest way possible) and when he thought of it, we immediately knew this was the name for her.

MIL, however, did not agree. She argued that she had wanted to continue the family tradition of the grandparents choosing the name. She said that she had been named by her grandmother and so had my husband. I, however, thought this was a load of bull. She wanted us to name the baby Mary after her and her grandmother. I thought this was selfish, but my husband seemed to be considering it. I explained to him that we shouldn't let his mother choose the name of OUR baby. We had already decided on the name Andromeda.

At a recent family get-together, we brought little Andie to see everyone. MIL kept referring to her as Mary, and I tried to tell her to stop. I told her multiple times that our baby was OUR BABY, and her name was Andromeda. I legitimately think she is either delusional or has a personality disorder. I don't know how to get her to stop. My husband is considering changing Andromeda's name to Mary just to get his mother to stop. I protested this, but it is still a sore subject in conversation. IDK what to do. AITA or should I listen to my husband and his mother about this?

AITA For Saying My Ex-Mother-In-Law Isn't Family Anymore?

From Redditor u/Sea-Purchase-6547:

I (34F) am in the process of divorcing my husband (33M). We're on good terms and still live together in my house (the house is in my name and was bought before marriage, which means my husband is not entitled to it according to my countries law). He hasn't moved out yet because of his financial issues (I'm ok with it). He just started a new job and hopes to move out in a month or 2.

My MIL is a nasty person and we never got along. She never liked me and made sure I didn't feel welcome in the family. Last month she called me on my birthday to tell me she's glad she no longer has to buy me anything for my birthday because I'm no longer family (she had recently found out we'd be getting a divorce).

Yesterday she called me (my ex was at work and didn't pick up that's why she called me not him) to inform she'd be coming over for 2 days next week because she will be having a medical procedure done in our city (the capital). She does not drive so she can't go home straight after the procedure, she was planning to spend the night and take a bus the next day. I told her absolutely no, she's no longer family, the house is mine and I don't want random people I don't even like in my house.

Neither she nor my ex can afford a hotel. He can't drive her back because of his new work. I won't because she's no longer my problem. My ex is very angry with me and told me I shouldn't be taking out my frustrations on his mother. I'm not. I just don't want her here because I don't like her and I don't feel like I have to put up with this anymore. We're no longer a couple. AITAH?

AITA For Being Upset That My Mother-In-Law Took Over Our Baby Shower?

From a former Redditor:

My husband and I are expecting our first child. We moved to be closer to his family. I'm no contact with mine.

My mother in law has been referring to the baby as "her" baby this entire time. She will say things like "I can't wait for my baby to be born." "My baby is going to be so loved." This rubs me the wrong way for reasons I cannot explain, but my husband tells me to ignore her.

My MIL wanted to throw me a baby shower and invite her friends. She said they made an agreement a long time ago that they would celebrate each other's kids' weddings and births. My husband and I eloped and declined a reception for her friends since we don't know them. My MIL told me that I owed it to her to let her throw the baby shower since I hurt her friends' feelings by not having wedding reception. I asked if I could invite my friends, and she said no, that this was for her friends, and that if my friends wanted to throw me a shower they could. I reluctantly agreed.

My husband and I spent hours on our registry, and my MIL asked for it so she could share with her friends. She said she forwarded the registry on. She asked me what design I wanted on my cake and cookies. I told her flowers because I am decorating the nursery in a garden theme.

At the shower they provided me with a "mother to be" sash and my MIL a "granny to be" sash to wear. I noticed that the theme of the shower was circus animals. The cake had an elephant and balloons on it, and the cookies were animals. At first I thought that maybe the floral theme was just too difficult, so I rolled with it until it was time to open presents.

Every present was some sort of circus animal. Onesies, blankets, toys - nothing on my registry. I was a little confused and even went so far to check my registry to make sure I hadn't goofed up and changed everything. I thanked everyone for their gifts and tried to sound as gracious as possible, but I was so confused.

My husband, who is a little less tactful than I am, showed up at the end of the shower and noticed the theme right away. He goes "what's up with all the circus animals?" He looks at the presents and says, "This isn't what we asked for." Then he looked at his mom and goes "MOM. What did you do?"

She smiled and said, "I didn't like the theme you chose for my baby. I'm going to decorate my baby's nursery at my house with circus animals, so I created a registry for myself." My husband said, "YOU DID WHAT?" She says, "My baby is going to need a room at my house so I threw a shower for myself."

I lost my composure and told her that she would not see MY baby and to stop calling the baby hers, and my husband told his mom that she's delusional if she thinks we're going to allow this. She started crying and said we are just withholding her baby from her.

We've been getting texts from his family since the shower, calling us selfish and ungrateful and saying we ruined her joy of being a grandma.

Are we the AH?

AITA For Blowing Up At My Mother-In-Law At A Family Dinner?

From Redditor u/Throwaway-97252801:

I (23F) have been married to my husband (24M) for three years. We were high school sweethearts and have been best friends since elementary school. He's still my best friend to this day.

I've never had a great relationship with his mom; she's difficult to talk to, and our conversations are usually very shallow (gossiping about neighbors, complaining about the landscapers, etc.).

Almost a year ago, my mom passed away, which still feels surreal to write. She truly was my soulmate, and I'm incredibly grateful to have had her in my life for 23 years. I miss her more than words can describe. My husband's family really stepped up during that time, supporting us financially with funeral costs and managing affairs when I was deep in grief. I'm genuinely grateful for their help.

Fast forward to now—we're expecting our first baby. As excited as I am, I'm also deeply saddened that my mom won't be here to guide me through this. We always talked about what my kids would call her (we had settled on "Grams").

Now, to the incident:
We were celebrating our pregnancy at a dinner with my in-laws, and my mother-in-law asked to make a toast. She laughed and said, "I'm so grateful to celebrate a new addition to our family. We can't wait to meet little 'Veronica'" (which is her name).

She went on to talk about her own pregnancy and what I should expect, mentioning that my husband had an abnormally big head when he was born. Then she said, "I look forward to being the favorite grandma to 'Veronica,' since of course, I'll be the only grandma."

The room went silent, and I started to cry. I stood up and told her how incredibly insensitive it was to say that, and that my mom would always be a grandmother, whether she's here or not.

She responded by saying I was "overreacting" and that it was just a joke. I told her to go to hell and left immediately.

My husband later called me, saying he spoke to his mom, who was in tears because she was embarrassed. She asked him to apologize on her behalf, and he told me I should have come back instead of telling her to go to hell and storming off.

I'm currently staying with my sister and haven't stopped crying since. She supports me 100%, but I really want to know: Am I the a**hole?

AITA For Refusing To Repair My Mother-In-Law's Phone?

From Redditor u/Super_Spud_Eire:

AITA for not wanting to replace my MIL phone screen after my 18 month old broke it ?

So, My MIL was baby sitting our LO last night and for some reason she gave the LO her phone to watch YouTube. Our LO decided she was done, and threw the phone from her high chair, cracking the screen badly. Now we absolutely do not do this. Our LO gets maybe 2 hours of screen time a week, and it's always on the TV, never a phone.

For context, my MIL is very well off .... Way more so than us, and the repair bill of her phone is alot of money to us, especislly this close to Christmas. My MIL told my partner that we must pay to repair her phone screen as our daughter broke it. I argued 3 points.

1)We were not present at the time. We were not the ones supervising the LO and shouldn't be accountable.

2)My MIL decided to give our child the phone. It was not suggested by us , and as mentioned is not something we ever do ourselves, my MIL knows this.

3) The cost of the repair is a significant amount of money to us, but not to her. Our combined income is less than half her solo income.

My partner suggested that my MIL pay for the phone and we pay back in installments. MIL refused because she thinks this is our issue to figure out. Personally I also don't agree with us paying her back, the phone was broken due to her own negligence.

So AITA?

AITA For Refusing To Pay For My MIL's Deductible After She Smashed The Gift I Gave Her?

From Redditor u/GrapeCreamJuice:

Long story short, I was on Twitter a while ago and saw this ad for a political mug that made me chuckle, so I decided to buy it for my conservative mother-in-law as a gag gift because I loved the idea of the mug being gifted to someone who leans more conservative.

Last night, it was my MIL's birthday, and I was getting ready with my wife to go to the restaurant where we would be eating. My wife saw the mug at home before we left as I was packing it into a gift bag, and she rolled her eyes, saying I was being immature, but she laughed at the mug, saying, "Well, it's kinda funny, I'll give you that."

We eventually got to dinner, and the whole family was having a good time. Then, at the end, we all gave our gifts, and when my MIL opened mine, she realized what it was and had this sour look on her face while the mug earned a couple of chuckles. My sister-in-law jokingly teased her, asking if she liked it. She just stood up and excused herself to use the bathroom. As she was about to leave, my sister-in-law said, "It's just a joke, Mom," and my MIL grabbed the mug furiously off the table and slammed it on the ground, shattering the glass. A shard gave her a pretty sizable cut on her ankle.

She had to go get stitches for the cut, and my wife said that we should pay for the deductible because she claims I'm the cause of the entire incident, but I said no. she got mad at me, telling me that I was being immature. We got in a fight about it and I said that it's ridiculous that I'm being blamed for her own actions. We ended up paying for it anyway. Wife is still kind of angry and my MIL is still furious and refuses to talk to me saying that I'm a "communist"

Edit: this was the mug for reference

AITA For Kicking Out My 72-Year-Old Mother-In-Law?

From Redditor u/NoMaybe3163:

I (36F) live with my husband (41M). I have a decent relationship with my MIL, compared to a lot of the horror stories I hear from friends, she's quite sweet and warm. She is, however, a little… over-controlling? Overprotective? I'm not sure of the exact word, but she has very strong ideas about things and no sense of boundaries. For example, when she stays at our house she takes over the kitchen completely and insists on cooking all our meals. She cooks wonderfully, but she won't let me help her at all, and puts everything away in the wrong places - and then insists that her way is more logical.

She only really comes for holidays, though, and I do like her a lot. So I don't mind putting up with these mild annoyances. I'm currently pregnant with our little girl, who will be born in a few months. This is a miracle - I really didn't think it would happen, especially so late, but we got lucky. When my MIL heard, she was super excited and said she would come over to help us get ready for the baby. She offered to stay for the next 6 months or so to help out, because my husband and I both work long hours and it will be hard to handle the baby on top of this. She is also pretty emotionally invested in this, because she truly sees herself as part of our family. She arrived a few days ago and set herself up, then she started with the cleaning.

I like collecting things from garage sales and such. Things like little sculptures and books and baskets, stuff a lot of people would consider utter junk. Our house is definitely overstuffed, but it's reasonably tidy and doesn't seem like a hoarder's house or anything. My MIL, on the other hand, likes everything surgically clean. Yesterday I came home from work to find the house like a war zone, she went through my cabinets and cleared out everything she considered junk, and had apparently made several trips to goodwill before I got home. I was really angry and I asked her why she would ever do this. She said the house has to be tidy for the baby, and that it would be "dangerous" for the baby to be in my cluttered house.

Then she took the next huge bag of stuff and tried to walk out the door. I kind of lost it, and I told her she could get out right now. She was shocked that I was serious, and she said she doesn't have anywhere to go and it's so late. It was about 9:30. I booked her a hotel room and called a taxi.

My husband came home an hour later, and when I told him what happened, he was furious with me. He says I disrespected his mom and was ungrateful for everything she's trying to do for us. AITA?

AITA For Refusing To Make Lasagna For Christmas After What My Mother-In-Law Did Last Year?

From Redditor u/Impressive_Peace6778:

I (30f) have been together with my husband Michael (31m) for 7 years. Married for 3 and dating for 4. My MIL (58f) has always hosted Christmas ever since I've known him.

I've always made lasagna for Christmas and other special occasions. I'm essentially the family lasagna maker, and I honestly don't really mind since I love to cook and bake.

However, last year my MIL decided to make lasagna based off what she saw me doing when she was at my house and a receipe she she got off the internet. I was surprised that she prepared a pan of her own, but didn't say anything and even got a small piece.

It did not taste good, and it was barely touched whilst mine had almost half gone near the end of the dinner. That infuriated my MIL, and she wound up doing a rant about how everyone loves me more than her and tried to throw my lasagna in the trash. I say tried because it mainly ended up on the floor.

Michael and I quickly left after that, and my MIL has not apologized for it since.

Yesterday she called me to confirm what I was making for Christmas this year, and on her list of things I should make was lasagna.

I politely said I wasn't going to make lasagna due to last year's incident and I'd be happy to make anything else. my MIL wasn't as polite and called me vindictive for refusing to make the lasagna over a small mistake.

I just refused again and it made my MIL angrier so she told me that unless I show up with lasagna in hand, she wouldn't let me be at the Christmas celebration.

My husband says its easier to just make the lasagna to keep the peace, and I shouldn't hold my MIL's mistake that she made out of anger against her.

Word got to my SIL and BIL from my MIL and they're saying I should also make it even if it's just half of what I would usually make.

AITA For Missing My Father-In-Law's Funeral After What My Mother-In-Law Did?

From Redditor u/Sadandexhausted133:

Me f31 and my MIL don't have a close relstionship. She's civil towards me but can be a bit passive aggressive at times and we tend to disagree often times.

We live in a different state. FIL passed away suddenly and MIL told me and my husband to come attend the funeral. She booked our tickets to fly to her state. But the issue started when my husband told me that we couldn't sit together in the plane because his mom had booked him a first class ticket while I got ecconomy. I was flabbergasted by this. I tried asking him why but he urged me to "suck it up, and we'll talk about it later". In that moment, that particular moment I felt so much humiliation and contempt. I felt like she was treating me as less then even in her hard times. I decided to not go and just go back home. My husband was shocked by my decision to go home and tried to convince me to just go but I declined.

He went alone and I ended up missing the funeral. He was livid just calling [me] and texting nasty things calling me petty and spoiled. He said that I should be grateful his mom paid for my ticket to begin with then said that she doesn't OWE me a Go**amn thing. I argued about how she could've just booked us both in economy if money was an issue but he called me pathetic for thinking about it when his dad just died. He said it was cruel what I did and that his mom and family will never forget that I missed the funeral over ridiculous reasons.

AITA for going home over this?

AITA For Refusing To Listen To Mother-In-Law's Speech During My Wedding?

From a former Redditor:

So I hate speeches. I never understood the appeal. I think they are boring, exhausting and very very forced but having said that, this is just my opinion and I never forced it on anyone. I have sat through long excoriating speeches without complaining like any other decent human being.

When it was my turn to get married however, I requested no speeches. We wrote that we loved everyone and that we knew they loved us so if you want to say anything say it to us directly, in private. My husband thought it was funny but he knew my feelings about speeches. We had a small wedding with only loved ones. a weekend long. My husband loves games so the wedding planner did a really great "task master" type of games and everyone appreciated it. Dinner came and MIL stood up and started by saying (I know we are forbidden to make speeches by the bride but this is my only son getting married so I will day what I want to....) I didn't hear the rest because I was seeing red. My sisters and bride's maids were shocked. I pretended like she wasn't talking and continued my conversation with my girls. They did the same.

MIL was furious, both SIL's were furious and my husband was very angry that it showed in his profile, he refused to look at me. The rest of the night was awkward. My husbands side sulking in their seats. I wanted to make sure it wasn't ruined for the rest of us and we ended up having a blast. [The next] day I spent it with my family and friends.

My husband said that I was very wrong in what I did. I couldn't force MIL to stfu and he knew she wouldn't no matter how much we told her. I should't have disrespected and humiliated her like this. Our marriage started on the wrong foot it seems. AITA?