My mother-in-law has never bought anything for my son

By Hai Lan   November 21, 2024 | 03:11 pm PT
My husband’s mother has never cared for my son, despite showing a lot of affection for her own daughter’s child.

It’s typical for tension to exist between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law, especially when they live together and interact daily. However, these conflicts wouldn’t be so pronounced if the mother-in-law treated all her grandchildren equally. Unfortunately, this is not the case with my mother-in-law.

Since the birth of my son, she has bathed him only three times and has never bought him any food. She doesn’t embrace or engage with him as other grandparents do. While I understand that caring for him is my responsibility and any assistance from his grandparents is a bonus, I have never seen her voluntarily spend time with him: she only looks after him if I specifically request it, otherwise not at all.

Conversely, she treats her daughter’s child entirely differently. She takes the girl home, showers her with attention, teaches her to speak, and prepares meals of meat, shrimp, fish, and poultry exclusively for her, yet leaving nothing for my son. During family gatherings at festivals and holidays, she exclusively praises and embraces her granddaughter, disregarding my son. She even purchases house slippers just for her granddaughter and meticulously washes her handkerchiefs, leaving my son’s for me to handle. Whenever my son is ill, she looks after her granddaughter instead, forcing me to seek support from my own mother.

This situation feels like a storyline from a film, with numerous other incidents too extensive to fully detail here. The issue has deepened the rift between my mother-in-law and me. Sometimes, consumed by negative thoughts, I contemplate leaving my husband, considering his mother’s actions.

Should I consider divorce?

 
 
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