Relations with in-laws can become stale, and eventually very petty, but one woman’s mother-in-law has taken the cake by refusing to use her name, and instead calling her by her car model.
When a parent doesn’t have faith in their child’s relationship choices, they can make life very unpleasant. Rather than support their kids, private petty wars are waged. I’ve been subject to it in the past, and in response, I simply refused to spend any time with them. But when you’re married, it’s kind of hard to avoid interaction.
On Reddit, a woman has reached out with a conundrum. Her in-laws clearly don’t like her, and have started calling her by her car model, rather than her name. This is a childish and cruel way to disrespect her, and it’s started to become a real problem.
In-Laws Ousted
Most of the disrespect came from her mother-in-law. She had developed some kind of maternal jealousy and was taking it out on her son’s new wife. Her in-law, as well as calling her by her car model, found other ways to try to get to her.
She made her son and his wife pay her whenever she took care of the kids. This would be fine if she were poor, but she didn’t make her other child do the same. She also bought her husband the exact wedding ring that her new daughter-in-law had bought for her son, which is weird.
The in-laws used her name wrong so often that other people genuinely thought it was her name. According to the post, the mother-in-law even used it for a baby shower she threw.
Her husband didn’t support her with her problem either. As the poster said, “This went on for years, and anytime I would address it directly with her or my husband, it would be dismissed or result in an argument.” She put it down to it being his mother, but I feel like that’s indicative of an unhealthy relationship.
In the end, she cut her off, not letting her distance affect her kids or her husband’s relationship. These were, apparently, the most peaceful 5+ years of marriage so far. But now her in-laws are trying to get back into her life, and she’s having none of it.
I think that’s more than fair.