Relationships

‘Dragon’ Grandma gets grandson christened behind new mum’s back

Jul 18, 2018

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship is often the most challenging.

It’s hard enough having a baby, and the last thing a new mum needs is an overbearing mother-in-law who offers unsolicited advice on how you should mother your new child.

But while grandmothers almost always have the best intentions, it seems that some just can’t help meddling where they’d be best to stay out of it. The topic of meddlesome grandmothers lit up the call lines at Triple M Brisbane on Tuesday when afternoon hosts Jane Kennedy and Mick Malloy were discussing an anonymous mother-in-law who crossed the line.

Kennedy opened up the subject with the horror story about a new grandma who snuck into the post-natal ward while her daughter-in-law was still recovering from her caesarean and held the baby before anyone else had a chance.

Listeners were quick to call up with their own experiences with an overbearing mother-in-law or family member and some of their stories were truly gobsmacking.

One listener explained how his “stupid” brother-in-law came over and snapped photos of his newborn son, and “plastered” them all over social media before he could announce his son’s birth to family and friends.

Another commentator said his mother gifted his newborn son a rocking horse that had been in the family for years, but his mother-in-law was jealous and took it upon herself to spruce it up, paining over the antique wood with bright, neon colours.

Perhaps worst of all though was a grandmother who didn’t like her grandchild’s name, so took them to her church and had them christened in her favourite name instead.

“My grandmother apparently was a dragon and hated my mother,” the caller said. “She took my brother to the local priest and had him christened the name she wanted.”

Of all the relationships in family life, the one between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is often the most challenging. It’s fair to say almost every family will have suffered tensions between relatives, whether it’s in-laws or adult children and their parents. But when a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law don’t get along, the resulting tension affects everyone in the family, and it often seems to flare up when grandchildren are added into the mix.

There have been plenty of stories in the past about mothers-in-law and their offspring’s partners fighting it out for love and attention, and the touchy subject was even immortalised on screen by Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez in their 2005 film, Monster-in-law.

More often than not though, the mother-in-law is painted as an overbearing figure who can’t help but meddle in their child’s life, even when they’re just trying help.