We’ve all heard the old cliches about nightmare in-laws.

It can be pretty hard to walk the line between your kids, your parents, your in-laws and, of course, your spouse right?

But usually when there’s a grandchild everyone can meet in the middle, with the kid’s happiness in mind.

That wasn’t the case in this story though!

This mother-in-law was all “my way, or the highway!”

AITA for telling my Mother In Law to please keep her criticisms to herself, and for eventually kicking her out of lunch?

I am a 32-year-old mom to a beautiful little 6-year-old girl, and she has been telling me all about a new cafe that her friend went to which serves “princess cakes”.

She says it is very fancy and people only go for special occasions, when they can dress up.

I had a look online, and they specialise in high teas. It looked lovely, and I knew it would make my daughter happy, so I booked a table.

Wow, this cafe sounds super cute.

However, it was really difficult to get into.

Unfortunately for me, this place is brand new and very popular, so I while I initially wanted to book for Mother’s Day in a couple of weeks, I could only arrange a table for today.

I thought we could still do it as an early Mother’s Day celebration, so I also invited my mom (60) and my mother-in-law (64).

My daughter was so excited, she wore her favourite dress and told everyone that she would be just like a princess. It was lovely to share her joy.

What a nice idea for a Mother’s Day gift!

But this is where the occasion took a turn for the worse.

My mother-in-law, on the other hand, was not so thrilled.

Now it is important to note that while she has a heart of gold, she is very salt of the earth and is quite frugal. I genuinely don’t mean this as a criticism, it is just who she is.

Despite it being my treat, my mother-in-law insisted that the whole thing was a waste of money, that the cakes were beyond ridiculous in their size, and it was all a bit pretentious.

She is obviously entitled to her opinion, but I could clearly see that her comments were sapping some of my daughter’s joy.

Even when my daughter said that this is what princesses eat (after a comment about how ridiculous it all looks), my mother-in-law said that princesses would want a proper meal and not something that is fit only to feed birds.

So the girl’s mother took a stand.

Eventually I asked my mother-in-law to accompany me to the bathroom, and I asked her to please keep her criticisms and negative comments to herself.

We were trying to have a nice day together, but more importantly, my daughter had really been looking forward to this and it was difficult for her to enjoy when someone is constantly acting negatively.

Seems reasonable, right?

Let’s see what the mother-in-law had to say.

My MIL said that I was giving my daughter far too much credit, she wouldn’t understand half of the criticisms, and even if she did, it is important that she understands the value of money.

Eventually I asked her to please leave if she couldn’t let my daughter enjoy herself, which is what she did.

Now my MIL is telling the family that I cut her out of the Mother’s Day celebration because she was too frugal and wouldn’t pander to a child.

This only got worse when the girl’s mother got home.

I know she is being ridiculous, but my husband is saying I could have just kept the peace for a couple of hours but I instead chose to act drastically.

He said the family being together is more important than whether someone feels a restaurant is overpriced.

Did I act drastically?

AITA?

Let’s see what Reddit had to say.

This person thought that the mother-in-law was kind of a killjoy.

And what about the poor little girl?

It’s one thing ruining it for yourself, another ruining it for an excited child.

Not to forget about the husband.

His behaviour was almost as problematic as his mother’s!

One thing’s for sure: this mother-in-law needs a lessons in manners!

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.