Hi, Becky, what's up?
Not much, except that my mother-in-law is driving me up the wall.
What's the problem?
She loves to nit-pick and criticizes everything that I do. I can never do anything right when she's around.
For example?
Well, last week I invited her over to dinner. My husband and I had no problem with the food, but if you listened to her, then it would seem like I fed her old meat and rotten vegetables. There's just nothing can please her.
No, I can't see that happening. I know you're a good cook and nothing like that would ever happen.
It's not just that. She also criticizes how we raise the kids.
My mother-in-law used to do the same thing to us. If it wasn't disciplining them enough, then we were disciplining them too much. She also complained about the food we fed them, the schools we sent them too, and everything else under the sun.
You said she used to? How did you stop her?
We basically sat her down and told her how we felt about her constant criticizing, and how we welcomed her advice but hoped she'd let us do our things. She understood, and now everything is a lot more peaceful.
That sounds like a good idea. I'll have to try that.