In Law Woes

I'm sorry to disagree with almost everyone who has posted here, but, YOU do not need to do anything. This is your mother-in-law not your mother. Hubby needs to step up to the plate and deal with the situation as her son. He needs to explain to mom that look we love you and appreciate you letting us rent from you but you are....(explains how she is being a pest).... then hugs her and says mom please stop. We don't need your help in this. You need to respect my and my wifes wishes in this. His word should carry more weight and by him stepping up it keeps you from making an enemy out of MIL.

Thank god i dont have inlaw problems. As soon as they found out snakes were in the home the stopped coming over!

Arguments could be made for both sides in this situation and that's just the way it is. Some people just don't want to hear that they don't know what is best, relative or not.

I believe the best approach might be to get hubby to talk to her as well as yourself, so she knows you are of one mind on this. Perhaps she thinks it is "just you" who feels this way and that her baby boy doesn't care what she does so that gives her a reason to keep doing it.

Of course you should be as patient and respectful as you can, both because she is related and because she is allowing you to stay with her, but that doesn't mean you can't be firm. Tell her the truth, these are your animals and not hers. Tell her you provide the care and not her. And tell her if she continues to disrespect your wishes at feeding time and one of the animals becomes ill and needs treatment, SHE will be paying the vet bill. And be sure to mention how expensive avian and exotic vets are.

If the dog makes a mess, tell her since she caused it she can clean it up. That should help convince her if nothing else does.

Other than that, just take deep breaths and keep reminding yourself it's only a little longer, only a little longer.

Gale

I think your MIL definitely seems to have good intentions, if you tried explaining why you don't like what she's doing, thanking her for the effort and giving her some details of what would be better she might very well be happy to do things the proper way. Of course, she might not, or she might think that she's right and you're wrong, but its worth a shot.

Simple soloution: put a lock on the the door. That eliminates the problems for all but the dogs and cats. For them, can u put their food in a place she doesn't have access to?

I can't put a lock on the door and I have told her about feeding them. She actually warned me there was cooked chicken bones in the cats' bowls so I could pick up the bowls before Bailey got to them. I just can't wait till we move.

Thanks everyone for all your advice. I think we just need to wait until we move. Then we won't have a problem of people feeding our kids.