– I always spoke well of my spouse’s mother! – Helena shares. – I always believed that I was very lucky to have a mother-in-law. We had an ideal relationship from the first days we met. My mother-in-law has always helped me, but I thought it was her own initiative and that she was doing it sincerely. And then I happened to hear that it was all getting on her nerves. I’m not going to let her in our house anymore, let her rest for life.
Helena and her husband have three children. The older son is almost ten, the middle daughter is six, and the younger one is almost two. The girl does not work and is engaged exclusively in the house and children, but in spite of this she often does not have time for anything at home, so her first assistant is her spouse’s mother. Every day the woman comes to them as if she were at work and helps her daughter-in-law to cook and clean, look after the children and do all the other household chores.
There is always plenty of work to do in a large family.
– She’s always been very kind! – daughter-in-law shares. – Helena, why don’t you go and lie down, you’re already tired, let me make you some tea? Her care – it was all hypocrisy!
The children adored their grandmother, and she did not dote on them. Grandma always came to her grandchildren with gifts. Every day she brought a surprise for all three of them.
– Did she help you for more than nine years?
– As a matter of fact, yes! – shares a daughter-in-law. – When the children were very young I needed her help a lot, but now I can manage on my own since the children have grown up and now they are much less bothersome.
There were times when Helena could not have done without the help of her spouse’s parent. For example, after the birth of her first child. Her son was born very capricious and all the nights long his mother practically took him in her arms. Her husband was away at work 24 hours a day, and it was not easy for Helena to stand it all.
– There were days when I was very afraid that my mother-in-law and today will not come! – Helena says. – I am very grateful to her for coming to us every day. She dressed my son and took him for a walk, and I had a chance to have at least a little rest.
Helena’s daughters were quiet, so it was a pleasure to babysit them. However, my mother-in-law’s help was always welcome. Mother-in-law took care of the children when the daughter-in-law was in labor, lay on support, took the healthy children to her if one of the grandchildren started to get sick, and she also took them to the skating rink, to the swimming pool, and for walks.
-This weekend my husband and I went shopping and took the children to my husband’s mother’s house. – Helena shares. – He and I went shopping and then went to my mother-in-law’s for the kids. On the way home, my youngest daughter remembered that she had left her bear at her grandmother’s and began to cry. We began to talk her down, but she was not going to calm down. So that the daughter did not suffer, her husband turned around and went back to his mother, because my daughter always fell asleep with this bear. Helena went to get the toy and as she was going upstairs she heard her mother-in-law complaining to her neighbor about her son and daughter-in-law.
– I have not seen the light of day for ten years. I have already forgotten when I had a rest. I help my son-in-law every day from morning till late at night. I have no time to go to the doctor, I can’t find the time. I clean my daughter-in-law’s house, but I live in a pigsty myself. I cleaned my daughter-in-law’s windows, but I sit with the dirty ones myself, and it’s good that I get home late, so I don’t see them.
– They are so impudent with you, it’s your own fault! – My neighbor felt sorry for me. – Ask your sister-in-law to help you clean the windows.
– Yes, she will, she didn’t help me wash hers. She doesn’t like to keep things in order. She’s lazy.
– Have them get you a cleaning service.
– What are they gonna hire me for? Don’t be ridiculous. They’re not very generous. They’ve never offered me anything. I’ve been retired for years, so they should know it’s not easy for me. I also bring my grandchildren something nice every day.
– Have they never offered to help you in all this time?
– What kind of help is that? My daughter-in-law brought me three in the morning and she does not care how I feed them three times a day. And the kids, you know they won’t eat empty porridge. Someday I’ll get up the courage to tell them what I think of them. Oh, Helena, you forgot something…
Helena took her daughter’s toy and left without another word. All night the girl could not sleep a wink, and in the morning she called and told her husband’s mother not to come to them anymore, as she does not want to meet with her mother-in-law-licker!
– Of course she did, when she put the children on your feet she was no longer needed! – replied her mother-in-law.
– If I had known before that communication with grandchildren is a burden for you, then I could have done without your help!
– What would you have done without me?
– Would my husband and I have hired a nanny or asked my mother? Somehow we would have worked it out! How do you like that situation?
