I'm having too much fun trying to find some humor in this MIL-ing. If given my choice, I'd hand in my resignation and just be Nana or a friend of the family -- which might be more than I'm currently being offered.

Some of the keys to being a "good" MIL I think have to do with knowing when to keep your mouth shut, which is most of the time.


Mother in Law Christmas Card by Nanas_Alley



We need lives and interests of our own, and to let our Children Go.

With my youngest now 18, but still in high school -- I still am practicing this. It's still painful and difficult and joyful to watch him grow up and go out on his own. We visited his girlfriend on her college campus and I had to remind myself then that it wasn't really "we" visiting her.

It was "me" taking him there to visit her. If he could have driven himself, my company wouldn't have been needed (we were on the way back to his boarding school -- so my transportation was necessary).

The important thing for me to hold onto is that when the two of them walked off alone, leaving me to wander around by myself, it was not a case of me being "left out". It wasn't the beginning of some vicious plot by "her" to take him away from me. From the readings of some other MIL's, and from my own feelings, I realize we often feel this way. But it just isn't so.

They are a young couple -- and my company isn't needed. This is true of the young couple setting up a family of their own. This is the second bit of wisdom from wise MIL's -- don't take it personally, which flows right into the third bit -- have a life of your own!