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s/o in-laws. Does anyone else have fantastic in-laws?


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I read a lot on here about people who have horrible in-laws, and I'm so sad for them. My in-laws are fantastic people. They are helpful without being smothering and they respect my husband and I as a couple and as parents. They are happy to give us advice if we want it, but if we don't, they keep their mouths shut. Basically they are the best ever and I love them as much as my own family. Am I alone?

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My ILs are great!

 

They are helpful without being smothering and they respect my husband and I as a couple and as parents. They are happy to give us advice if we want it, but if we don't, they keep their mouths shut.

Ditto here!!

 

I am also blessed with a MIL who fully supports my midwifery practice. She is available to watch the kids if I need it. Even in the middle of the night! My dh was working out of town for a weekend when I had a client due and I told her I might need her if it happened during the day. She told me to also call if it was 2am that she would come over. She is always telling me that she knows how important this work is to me.

 

They were also the main reason we were able to move this summer. MIL is a realtor so she helped us in that way. But also, they were so very generous in helping us financially.

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My father in law was a bit of a nightmare...very woman hating so his daughter in laws were bad women who stole his wonderful, near perfect, best friend sons from him. It was tense. But, mother in law is a lovely, lovely woman with a huge heart, accepting, compassionate, supportive, rarely a negative word of any kind to say. Her husband never appreciated her.

 

After FIL died, she moved up here to be near us and lives five miles away. She has become close friends with my mom and so she's having a lively, joy filled, productive golden years and I am very happy for her. She's become close with the boys and very close with dd who is making grandma (former pediatric nurse specialist and nursing professor) proud by going into the medical profession. It's really neat to see her relationships with the kiddos blossoming. My niece, brother's daughter, calls her grandma too.

 

Faith

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Yep, I have awesome IL's. We had a few shaky years at the very beginning, getting to know each other and DH and I finding our "couple" feet, but now I couldn't ask for better IL's. FIL/MIL adore our kids and always help out with them. They are amazingly supportive of us homeschooling, especially since MIL is a life-long teacher. She is always giving me things to use or asking me if there is anything I need and talking books and methods with me. She has been an amazing help. They don't push and they don't smother, but they are always available if we need them and know that we are available anytime they need us.

 

And I have THE best SIL on the face of the planet. She is easily one of my closest friends and is absolutely wonderful.

 

I am so very thankful for all of them!!

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I have a great MIL. She's helpful without being overbearing or judgmental. Accepts that we are different and have our own ways of doing things. She's very generous and a great person overall. She can get on my nerves, but this has more to do with personality differences then anything she actually does, so when these times occur I know it's just time to take a break each other.

 

it's her exDH and his side of the family I could happily live without.

 

ETA: she told me when DH and I got married that she had had One of THOSE MIL's and she had determined long ago not to be one. Knowing her exMIL (DH's GM) I can say I am very thankful for that.

Edited by akmommy
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I have fantastic in-laws as long as I don't expect them to be like my parents. They are kind and generous people, and have dropped everything when I have really needed them to help us. When dh was in the hospital, they were here the following day. When dd was back and forth with medical care, they were always there. With opinions, they are usually great about not commenting when they might offend. They do respect dh, me, and us. FIL is a fantastic supporter of our homeschooling. MIL enjoys her family around her for every holiday - which I may not enjoy as much as her, but I get. ;)

But my relationship with my in-laws is not the same as with my parents. I don't expect it to be. I can easily ask my mother to keep her eye out for ___ along her travels. MIL, not so much. They are different people, but both wonderful.

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I have a wonderful MIL! Even though she originally didn't think hs'ing was the best thing, she kept and open mind, and now thinks it's great (for us).

 

My FIL passed away in November, and I miss him fiercely. My heart broke when he died, and he took a piece of it with him that will always, always be missing. What an amazing man!

 

I consider myself extremely fortunate because DH loves my folks, and I really love(d) his.

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My MIL died a year ago and I still miss her very much. I'm very sad that she will never know my youngest dd, we named dd after her.

 

My FIL is great and has been a great support when I was ill this pregnancy, he stayed with us every time my dh traveled. I'm very glad to be part of my dh's family.

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My in-laws are fantastic people. They are helpful without being smothering and they respect my husband and I as a couple and as parents. They are happy to give us advice if we want it, but if we don't, they keep their mouths shut. Basically they are the best ever and I love them as much as my own family.

 

I could say this exact thing. :001_smile: I realize I'm blessed to have such wonderful in-laws. I feel so bad for everyone who has horrendous in-law experiences.

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Mine are amazing. And so are my husband's! :001_smile: We live within 5 miles of both of our parents and we have great relationships with both of them. My mil just took me out to lunch this weekend to spend some time together. They treat me like a daughter, they are the best grandparents ever, and I'm crazy about them!

 

And, there is not a day that goes by that I don't realize how lucky I am for this fact!

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I adore my inlaws. I trust them with my kids, they are always hosting holidays and they welcome my family into their home. They are generous at Christmas and birthdays, and when I was in school, they used to provide backup emergency child care when my kids' school was canceled and mine wasn't. They've loaned us cars when ours was in the shop and money when we needed to buy a new car. My MIL and I try to stay away from political conversations and when we do, we never argue. They believe in letting us raise our own kids without their input, which is all the more impressive with how often they see our kids. I don't pretend to be the perfect mother, but my mistakes are not pointed out to me by my MIL, but I do feel comfortable enough to talk about situations I'm having at home and even grumble to her about her son, which she is always good natured about. :p They've always treated me as a part of the family. They aren't perfect but neither am I, and when I hear other people's horror stories about their inlaws, I just say another little prayer of thanks for mine.

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I have the best in-laws in the world. I lost my father at 6 and my mother at 16. My parents in law are very generous, loving, and respectful of our choice of homeschooling even though at the beginning they didn't seem to like it (they never said anything negative to me).

They help me whenever I need help and they give my dh and me time for date evenings or date weekends by taking the kids over to their house. They are also very hands-on with our dss. They take them to fun field trips. They are just fabulous!

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Sadly, FIL died before I knew any of DH's family, but everyone I met who knew him, spoke well of him.

 

My MIL is lovely. She might put her point of view, but in a very non-interfering way. She won't go on about it or get offended if we make it clear that we disagree. Due to the fact that she's getting on and sometimes forgets what she's said, she does occasionally make the same comment more than once - but that's ok as I understand why this happens!!

 

She's very pro-homeschooling, and has a good relationship with my older DC (she's not really a baby/toddler person). She doesn't live nearby though, so we don't see her as much as we would like, but we keep in touch on the phone and via MSN. She's also pretty good with gifts, and always asks me beforehand what I would like the kids to have, rather than buying useless tat.

 

She's also been VERY understanding over the troubles that DH and I have had in our marriage and she's one of the first people I go to to talk to when I'm struggling. My only wish is that she would be a bit more proactive in saying how she feels about it to both of us, and about life in general - she's not apt to express herself without encouragement, and finds it very hard to ask anyone for help at any time.

 

So all in all - I consider myself very blessed to have her in my life.

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I love my in-laws like my own parents. They have BEEN my parents for 19 years! And the whole family, I am much closer to my dh's family than I am to my own.

 

That isn't to say we always see eye to eye, or that they don't occasionally get on my nerves (they ARE family after all) but I wouldn't trade them for anything.

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I get along with my FIL well. You can tell him and DH are cut from the same cloth, so it's hard not to like the guy. He does try too look and act about half his age, lol. Very amusing.

 

DH's mother died when he was young. I would have put up with any MIL, good or bad, just so my DH could have avoided going through that.

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Both my FIL and MIL passed away before I met DH, as well as one of his sisters, but his maternal uncle lived only a few hours away and was the closest IL I had and he was lovely and supportive. My 2 BILs and my SIL (on my DH's side) are also really supportive, if a little distant because they are much older than DH and live far away. I happen to adore my SIL (my DB's wife) but we have known each other since I was 15 and she was 17/18 so we almost grew up together.

 

I asked DH once if he thought his parents would have liked me, and he assures me they would have loved me (he's sweet that way), but I often wonder what it would be like to actually have a MIL or FIL.

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I had always felt that it was so nice to know that my in-laws(well, when they were both living) would always "be there" for us and love us unconditionally, like no one else does. But we haven't seen them much in so long due to living in the state of WA and they, in the state of AL. Less than a year ago my mother in law passed away and I am sad about that. She had Alzheimer's, which I'm sure was very hard on my father in law.

Edited by Miss Sherry
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I read a lot on here about people who have horrible in-laws, and I'm so sad for them. My in-laws are fantastic people. They are helpful without being smothering and they respect my husband and I as a couple and as parents. They are happy to give us advice if we want it, but if we don't, they keep their mouths shut. Basically they are the best ever and I love them as much as my own family. Am I alone?

 

 

My mother-in-law was wonderful. She treated me like I was a daughter. She accepted me without question or judgement. She was also very funny. My father-in-law is a very kind man. His current wife is a kind lady, but has an agenda with which I can not abide.

 

My dh has no in-laws. Both my parents are dead.

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Mine both died before dh and I even knew one another. I knew dh father and worked for him but never knew his mother who was ,from all reports, a saint. I know I would have enjoyed her company and could have taught her to swear . Dh is significantly older than I thus while our grandparents were friends, our parents were acquaintances , the age gap means I nor our daughter ever had the chance to know my mother in law . Dd looks very, very much like her.

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My in-laws are a blessing. They are generous, they don't criticize, they don't step over any bounderies (i.e., I suspect they weren't big hsing fans, but never said a negative word), etc. Unfortunately, most of our communication is very superficial, but we love each other even if all we talk about is the weather!

 

My parents are practically perfect in-laws. They never offer opinions that they aren't asked for, they are extremely supportive of homeschooling, we share the same faith and world view and enjoy talking about it, they are always there for us in a time of need. When I was in the hospital for three months in 2007, my mom took over the majority of homeschooling and child care duties for our family, and my dad did the work in his small business that my mom would normally do. They are that awesome! :001_wub:

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nt

I read a lot on here about people who have horrible in-laws, and I'm so sad for them. My in-laws are fantastic people. They are helpful without being smothering and they respect my husband and I as a couple and as parents. They are happy to give us advice if we want it, but if we don't, they keep their mouths shut. Basically they are the best ever and I love them as much as my own family. Am I alone?
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I have great ILs (and great parents too)! We have our moments, but they're genuinely good, caring people who really do have our best interests at heart. They might do some things differently than we do, and we may frustrate each other sometimes, but we do truly like and respect each other. I could be friends with my MIL even if it weren't for the fact that we have a mutual love (and sometimes mutual exasperation, LOL) for the same boy. ;) They may not always understand the way we homeschool, for instance, but they definitely support it. (I think they just don't know that many homeschoolers and imagine more of a structured, school-at-home approach than we actually do.) They are wonderful grandparents and adore the children. They only had two children themselves, but if they were anything other than thrilled about our 3rd and 4th children, nobody would ever know. (We announced #4 a few weeks before Christmas. MIL immediately asked what I needed and surprised me at Christmas by having a gift for the baby -- she went to the effort to buy exactly the cloth diapers I like. She also shopped a couple of weeks ago and sent me a surprise package with a new maternity top and some other little goodies, with a note that thanked me for carrying "another precious grandbaby" for them.)

 

I really have been blessed with great ILs.

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