Woman Asks If She's Wrong For Kicking Mother-In-Law Out Over The ‘Humiliating’ Gifts She Brought Her Teenage Daughters
She felt her mother-in-law crossed the line.
M Stocker | Shutterstock A woman was accused of overreacting after she threw her mother-in-law out of her house over gifts that she'd given to her two teenage daughters. Posting about her dilemma on Reddit, the 47-year-old mom claimed that her mother-in-law had seriously overstepped her boundaries.
She actually gifted the girls intimate shavers and condoms. The mom obviously did not find the gifts funny or appropriate, but her husband seemed to think his mom was just trying to prepare them for the future.
A woman kicked her mother-in-law out over the 'humiliating' gifts she brought her teenage daughters.
"I, a couple days ago, decided to invite my mother-in-law to my house because she hasn’t seen my kids in a very long time. She was thrilled and said that she would come with a few gifts, and I told her that was fine. My kids are in their early teens and what she brought them was absolutely terrible, humiliating even," she began in her Reddit post.
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She explained that everything was fine at first. They spent some time catching up and having a good time, but then she gave the girls their gifts. Her mother-in-law told her 14-year-old daughter to open the gift she'd gotten for her first. She received a razor and some condoms. She admitted that she was "immediately disgusted" by her mother-in-law's gift.
"My mother-in-law said that it’s a perfect gift and that she’s going to need it. Then, my 13 year old opened hers and she got her the same thing," she continued. "I told her that I was absolutely disgusted with her behavior and that she needed to leave my home. She flipped out and started acting like a lunatic."
She accused her mother-in-law of being a 'psychopath' for bringing over these gifts for her kids.
While making sure teens are getting accurate and age-appropriate sexual education is important, there's a difference between having an age-appropriate conversation and handing teenagers a box of condoms, especially when the parents weren't consulted first. There's definitely a right time and a right place. This wasn't it.
"I started screaming that this was not okay and that she’s a psychopath for bringing them these 'gifts' and she said that she was just trying to do something nice and started crying. I told her that there was no reason to cry and I shoved her out the door," the woman wrote.
Her mother-in-law is definitely not a "psychopath" for bringing her granddaughters that kind of gift, but it's also clear that her gesture missed the mark completely. Even if her heart was in the right place, the way she delivered it made it feel like an ambush of sorts rather than coming from a place of wanting to teach teenage girls about their bodies and physical intimacy.
This was definitely a boundary that Mom and Grandma should have discussed before the incident. Mom probably should have remained a bit calmer, but then again, her mother-in-law really should have just given the girls an iTunes gift card or a trip to get manicures instead.
There are definitely better ways to broach the topic of sex with teens, but most should start with their actual parents leading the conversation. There definitely needs to be some kind of much-needed talk when it comes to boundaries, as her role is the teens' grandmother, to prevent something like this from happening again.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
