Mother-in-laws. Why not the Father-in-laws?

Question

Seems like only the mothers-in-law get the bum rap. But never the father-in-law. Why is this so? And if its the mother-in-law, that means both sides of the family?

Answer 1

by the time they're "father in law" material, they've been well trained when to keep their yaps shut. The woman is almost always the boss, and the initiator of all things.

Answer 2

I don't really see that correlation. I think it's more of a Control Issue. This can apply to father-in-laws too, but it's more common with the mothers. If they are not emotionally ready to "pass the baton" to their family's next generation, they will see the daughter-in-law as a threat to their control. This is a tough one to resolve because it requires the mother-in-law to grow emotionally and accept change, where if they had the ability to do that, you wouldn't have this problem in the first place. Wait them out. Also, a lot of women gauge their sense of self worth on their family raising abilities. If everyone moves out of their house, then this ability is devalued, and is seen by them as transferring to the new person (daughter-in-law) in charge of the family. In this situation, their resentment is an almost instinctive reaction to a perceived threat to their family This situation is fairly benign, and can be worked thru over time by helping them re-establish their sense of worth.

Answer 3

If the mother-in -law is from Hell do you really think the father-in -law can possibly exert himself enough to be anything but a worm under her control? As far as it being on both sides .... of course that can happen. Most times it is only the one side though.

Answer 4

Because the father-in-law dont want to be the bad person and has the mother -in -law do the talking....At least that is how it is in are house .My husband will always tell me to tell them what needs to be said.And at the end Im always the bad person lol...Another thing the mother-in-law is the one who has to answer the phone and hear every little problem .

Answer 5

The evil mother-in-law card is just so easy to play. Especially if you think that your darling little angel just got hooked up with the wrong person.
I love that new cell phone commercial where the dad is intimidating the new boyfriend by saying that his picture is right next to the kid's in her fav 5, and it's like he's watching him...all the time. I can definitely wait to have to do something like that with my daughters' boyfriends. They will be scared of me though, if I have anything to say about it. I have lots of practice being scary already.

Answer 6

The mother in law is usually more involved in the son/daughtes life and therfore is usually involved in the familly. The father in law usually let things just roll off his back while he sits on the couch having a beer.

Answer 7

uh hell to the no...i despise my father-in-law. My inlaws are divorced....my mother in law is whiney and self centered, but a nice lady otherwise. My father-in-law is a name-dropping, pompus know-it-all....who really doesn't know shizzle...
i realize this coming from Mzknowitall doesn't mean anything, but the guy's an idiot, he's a retired police chief so he thinks he's friggin king of the city....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Answer 8

Father-in-laws are terrible too but the people are more afraid of them so the joke tellers keep there mouth shut to keep from getting there *** kicked. LOL. Don't really know.

Answer 9

because men seem to go with the flow more, mothers-in-law tend to be intrusive, catty and sometimes right out mean

Answer 10

Because men are not interested in hearing someone bad mouth there wives. They have better things to talk about.