[discostu]

10 is very dependent on the family. My wife has a bad relationship with her family because they suck. She does manage to have a better relationship with them that I do, I hate them, she merely dislikes them.

[chesley]

My mother-in-law was very critical. My brother-in-law )wife's sister's husband) once asked my how I could stay so calm in the face of her put-downs.

I told him, “She's not my mother”.

For that matter, I was always respectful to my own mother, agreed with everything she said to me, then went and did what I wanted. Exactly the same way I did my mother-in-law.

Worked like a charm. There are some people that it is just not worth getting into it with. Mothers and mothers-in-law top the list.