20+ Mother and daughter-in-laws who cannot get along: 'My MIL is a huge boundary stomper'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jan 2, 2025 11:00 AM EST

When you choose your life partner, you're also choosing another new family to spend lots of time with. It can't be helped! Even if you love your BF to the moon and back, if your in-laws drive you crazy, you're going to start dreading seeing them each holiday. Instead of looking forward to Christmas with the in-laws, you'll start dragging your feet as you wrap up presents. Or maybe the GF's mom is so nit-picky about her BF that she can't say anything nice at all, leading that BF to skip out on her family gatherings entirely. 

If you're lucky, your mother or father-in-law can become like a second set of parents to you. Taking vacations together is a joy, and bringing the kids over to visit the grandparents makes the day fly by. However, if you ask the 1,800+ people who replied to this person's question, there are some less-than-ideal MIL/DIL situations going on here. While a few commenters shared that they have learned to get along with their in-laws, or have loved them from the start, there are an awful lot of folks who have never managed to get along with them. 

After that, read about the irritating customer who refused to listen to a retail worker reciting a policy to her, demanding that "I want to see a manager now." 

Add as a preferred
source on Google
Advertisement
  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10448787712
    via Kateryna Hliznitsova For Unsplash+

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    Mother-In-Laws of Reddit, in the interest of fairness, what are your crazy daughter-in-law stories?
    via u/RealityWanderer
  • 03
    lauralei99 I feel like a crazy daughter in law because when my first baby was born I told my husband to tell my in laws they couldn't be at our house the day we got home from the hospital. I really wanted privacy. Looking back, I feel really guilty and didn't need to make it a big deal. They did come visit a few weeks later.
    via u/lauralei99
  • 04
    [deleted] My sister experienced it when she lived with my SIL and brother. SIL had a very particular way of doing things. So she told my sister to not do anything because SIL had an order. Dishes? Nope, leave it in the sink. Cleaning? Nope, you're not doing it my way. So as my SIL said, my sister didnt touch any cleaning. Then SIL
    via u/[deleted]
  • 05
    got upset my sister didnt clean. Made a power point presentation on everything my sister did wrong. These presentations would last a minimum of 20 minutes and up to an hour or so. My sister was confused because when she did help, she was told she was doing it wrong and SIL told her to stop. Now that she stopped, SIL is mad my sister isnt helping.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 06
    My sister isnt dirty by any means, she knows how to clean up. It just wasnt being done the way SIL wanted it to be done. My sister had to sit through multiple presentations when she lived with them.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 07
    Zlifbar She so crazy she married my son!
    via u/Zlifbar
  • 08
    fatb I was the lovec... DIL, we - married young and she would try to help a little too much. I would feel suffocated with her and felt like she was judging everything I did. 4-5 years later I realized she was just trying what she thought was best for us and we now have the best relationship.
    via u/fatb******lovecake
  • 09
    mysonisat to My dil decided, after years of manipulating my son, walk out on him and their two kids. A few hours later she changes her mind and bombards him with all kinds of crop for a week. And then she gains access to the house when he's out and changes the locks causing him and their two young kids to be homeless. She s ks!
    via u/fatb******lovecake
  • 10
    SiXleft7 My MIL has a very rocky relationship with one of her Daughters in law. There are a few of us. This one time this particular DIL (with a rocky relationship) had started "being nice" to our MIL by going to lunch with her and giving her advice on how to change annoying aspects of her personality. This lasted for a couple of months. Finally the DIL had
    via u/SiXleft7
  • 11
    an absolute rage session and started screaming at the MIL saying how she could no longer be part of this ruse and that all her attempts at being friendly and trying to changing the MIL's personality was pointless because the MIL was too
    via u/SiXleft7
  • 12
    stupid. To this day they don't get along and family gatherings are always super uncomfortable. This of course is from my POV so I can't say for certain what was actually going on in either of their heads, but there you have it.
    via u/SiXleft7
  • 13
    t... Happened to a friend. Her brother married this girl who was his college friend. Very happy, have a baby girl... Suddenly her father passed away so her mother went to stay with son and DIL. At first she was ok. But after like a month, DIL started to lock the fridge ( in india fridges come with internal locks) and pantry doors. She started cutting down MIL's
    via u/thatindianmum
  • 14
    food. When my frnd came to know abt this, we went to her brothers place, packed her mom's stuff and brought her back to my friends house. Scary lady that DIL. Brother didn't say sh to his wife. Edit- people are asking what did MIL do that DIL had to cut down food supply... There is nothing she could do to get this kind of treatment from her son and
    via u/thatindianmum
  • 15
    DIL. That old lady is literally the sweetest lady I have ever met. Took care of her granddaughter, cleaned the house. We have locks on our fridges which come with 2 keys(we loose that like on the 1st day) it's to keep kids and monkeys out. Yes. We have rogue monkeys who raid our kitchens.
    via u/thatindianmum
  • 16
    imissbklyn My sibling had the worst mother-in-law. This woman would not talk to our mother because she was divorced. Technically our mother had biblical grounds for doing this but when mom entered the room the MIL would leave. After a while it just
    via u/imissbklyn
  • 17
    got ridiculous and mom would just flit from room to room to f with her at the kid birthday parties. No one felt strongly enough to put their foot down and stop the game.
    via u/imissbklyn
  • 18
    [deleted] My parents never liked my (ex) husband. They never said anything but I could tell. And they were right.
    via u/[deleted]

  • This person brings up an interesting point. Sometimes you can just tell when your parents dislike your partner or even one of your friends, but they don't say so directly, leading to some awkwardness. 

  • 19
    SnooBooks702 My SIL. HOLY SHEEEET my mom not flipping her sh on her has always amazed me. My sister in law does everything in her power to be miserable about my mom. My mom sells her and my brother a truck instead of giving it. Horrible person. My mom gave her boyfriend tamales on real plate one Christmas instead of paper
    via u/SnooBooks702
  • 20
    like the rest of us. B My brothers family has colds my mom doesn't drop everything to get them popsicles, soup ECT. She has the audacity to wait a little bit to make them a care package. Monster. She gets mad texts my mom and calls my mom a PIECE OF SH.
    via u/SnooBooks702
  • 21
    My brother tried to keep the peace but it just rarely happened. I will never understand why she dislikes my mom so much. My mom isn't perfect but my SIL is nuts . My brother passed away last April and my SIL made it a little weird and hurt my mom but that's whole different post.
    via u/SnooBooks702
  • 22
    Purple_Egg_1042 I am the alleged crazy daughter-in-law and if my MIL posts here, SHE'S the CRAZY one, not me. Pre- emptive strike. BAM!
    via u/Purple_Egg_1042
  • 23
    gaslighteryouliar I'll add a SIL story here. When the kids were little, my brother and SIL held big birthday parties with both sides of the family. They ordered pizza, and only her family were allowed to eat it. Thankfully they haven't had a big birthday party in a few years.
    via u/gaslighteryouliar

  • Involving the kids in the dispute is just wrong. That's the kind of behavior that makes parents keep the kiddos away from Grandma and Grandpa, and take them to the other side of the family for annual gatherings. 

  • 24
    magicrowantree I'm the DIL. In my MIL's POV, I am the evil snake that is ruining her family and its values. I'm manipulating her son into a man that rejects his family and won't let them into our lives. My husband suddenly has these boundaries and secrets. He doesn't want to be involved in anything with his family and refuses to
    via u/magicrowantree
  • 25
    invite them over to see our children. I must be changing him and turning him against them! It's all my fault! Reality is... my MIL is a huge boundary stomper and doesn't have basic respect for us. We have very simple boundaries and she has fits about them because she can't do whatever she wants when she wants. For goodness sake, she literally bitched about how she has
    via u/magicrowantree
  • 26
    to "make an appointment" to come over to our house instead of just popping by whenever she felt like it. She expects my husband to be her personal free laborer and her idea of family is her being heavily involved in every aspect of my and my husband's lives. Her increasing ridiculousness just keeps pushing my husband further away from her with each issue she blows up on.
    via u/magicrowantree
  • 27
    So yeah, I'm a horrible DIL in my MIL's eyes, but I'm honestly neutral about it. I don't need or want her approval.
    via u/magicrowantree
  • 28
    7fw My ex called my mom a B for not cc'ing her when she was emailing me... this happened within days of my father dying and I was making all of the preparations and handing ins and bills and stuff. She was awful then.
    via u/7fw
  • 29
    maddiemoiselle My aunt has plenty about my cousin's wife. She's one of those vegans that gives vegans as a whole a bad name and is staunchly anti vax. She also refused to get prenatal care when pregnant with her son, wanting to raise him "all naturally", only conceding to get an ultrasound.
    via u/maddiemoiselle
  • 30
    Kevkaoss Not a mother in law but a wedding venue I worked at the mother of the bride walked in on the groom and the best man having "fun" together. Needless to say the wedding reception never happened. I don't think they got their 5k deposit back either.
    via u/Kevkaoss
  • 31
    Noni_Fruit "I don't do dishes... I don't touch other people's food..." Exact quote
    via u/Noni_Fruit
  • 32
    [deleted] I was a DIL. At least for the first 6 years. We had a strained relationship that would go back and forth between hate, tolerance and actually liking each other. To be fair, my husband was the youngest and we became teen parents. She blamed me for stealing her son, I blamed her for not letting us live our lives. In 2011 things
    via u/[deleted]
  • 33
    started to change and we started talking and getting. to know each other. Two years ago we lost her and I am honored to have been one of the ones chosen to be by her side during that time.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 34
    toothpastenach... On behalf of my grandma, my uncle and his wife just steal sh. (Family drama rant incoming. Read at your own risk.) My grandparents gave my uncle and his wife everything. They lived on the farm that my grandpa grew up on. My grandparents moved into the ranch next door that my
    via u/toothpastenachos
  • 35
    great grandparents built, and my "aunt" and uncle moved into the farm house. My grandparents owned it all up until my grandpa di d and my uncle ~convinced~ manipulated my grieving grandma to sign it away to him. He and my aunt auctioned off the farm equipment before my grandpa's body was even cold, and now they lock up all the sheds and
    via u/toothpastenachos
  • 36
    garages. Who knows what the h I they're hiding. My grandma even needs to ask to get into her own property. Sometimes when I visit my grandma, I hear the outside basement door creak open and I know it's my aunt sneaking downstairs to go look for something she wants. My grandma can't hear that door from the living room so she knows she can come and go without being seen.
    via u/toothpastenachos
  • 37
    or heard. It's gotten to the point that my mom and the rest of my aunts bought my grandma a fridge and freezer with a lock on it because ~her~ "our" food started to go missing. I hate them. And I don't care that I'm likely not getting any money when my grandma dies - I care that they steal from her like she's already de d.
    via u/toothpastenachos
  • 38
    neo_sporin My sister in law (wife's brothers new wife) told us over the weekend "we are trying for a baby" My brother in law was not aware they were trying.
    via u/neo_sporin

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

opinion ask reddit family drama daughter in law funny stories mother askreddit in laws mother in law family daughter funny opinions
Scroll Down For The Next Article