Grandparents can be lifesavers when it comes to needing someone to look after your young children, as many people’s parents do so for free, saving you precious pennies on childcare.
But one mum has revealed letting her mother-in-law see her two youngest family members has been a nightmare – because she thinks the grandmother is trying to take over as the children’s mum.
As reported by My London the mum took to Mumsnet to ask for advice, as she explained she has “always had issues” with her partner’s mother.
In the post, which has since been removed, she wrote: “I’ve always had issues with my partner's mother from the start of our relationship.
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“She’s quite a rude woman- very strong personality like myself and we clash a lot of the time.
“The issue is that now I have two children she degrades me as a parent.”
The mum-of-two said she feels as though she is “losing” her children to her mother-in-law – who even gets the youngsters to call her “mummy”.
She added: “I feel like I’m slowly losing my children and have gone as far to say to my partner ‘She would take them from me if she could’.
“She’s also said to my son once ‘Don’t worry mummy’s here - oh I mean grandma’, but I know she knew what she was doing.”
The mum then slammed her mother-in-law as “disrespectful” and claimed she was trying to undermine her abilities as a parent.
She added: “She’s rude, disrespectful, doesn’t respect my wishes as a mother because she’s ‘mothered tons of children’ so says she knows what she’s doing, to which I responded, ‘Well these are not your children they are mine’.
“She ignores my calls and messages when checking in on my children and she’s really getting in my head.”
And while people were sympathetic to the mum in the comments, many of them asked why she still sends her children to see their grandma.
One person wrote: “This is toxic and you need to put a stop to it.
“You can hire a babysitter and your partner can say no to her. Stop handing your children over!”
While another placed blame on the mum’s partner, stating: “You have a husband problem, he needs to stand up to his mum and raise the concerns you have discussed with him.
“But also, you can’t have your cake and eat it - you say you don’t like her interfering because they are your children, but you willingly hand them over to her a few times a week.”
And a third said: “I get that’s it’s hard to raise children, but you need your husband to step up if you are struggling, not use the mother-in-law that you can’t stand.”
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
