I just sat and read all the posts about in-laws in the topic below. As I sat giggling and cringing I'll admit my first thought was "so I'm not the only one that wants to kill my in-laws!" I sat and thought about this for a long time and couldn't help but wonder WHY there is such a tug-of-war between mothers and their in-laws...particularly mother-in-laws. Although I often refer to my MIL as psychotic or evil I doubt her or most other mil's actually are either one of those things. So what is their freakin' problem??? The only thing I can come up with is that they feel left out. What I mean is that as a new mom I very much wanted to do things my way....but if I did have a question I went to MY mom and when I need help with the baby or someone to watch him I ask MY parents. My little guy is the 1st and for a few more months the only grand child and my husbands sister is younger and not having kids any time soon so my inlaws havnt had the chance to be the one their daughter turns to and I know they re jealous of how often my parents see the baby. I'm not going to lie...I had to flat out tell my mil to "back the f*#k off" <yes I actually said that to her> at one point but I find she isnt quite as pushy and over bareing if I am a bit more "giving". I try to ask her opinion on things....even when I have no intention of even considering it and althoug(like many others I see) I have no intentions of leaving my child alone with her for long I try to leave him with her for short periods where she cant do any harm <like if i run to the store>. It makes her feel like shes allowed to babysit. I dunno, just a thought. would love to hear what others think.