Toilet training is an intensely personal rite for all parents of young kids, one that requires plenty of patience and understanding.

However, one mother-in-law proved she wasn’t willing to rise to the occasion.

When her attitude took a surprisingly critical turn, underlying tension bubbled to the surface.

Read on for the full story.

AITA for yelling at my mother-in-law after she said some nasty things about my child?

My 5-year-old daughter wanted to visit her grandmother (my mother-in-law) for MIL’s birthday.

MIL was super excited about the idea and enthusiastically invited us over.

The past few months have been trying for the family, as their daughter moves to the next stage of development.

Now, my daughter is in the process of toilet training.

It’s taken longer than usual due to her frequent UTIs.

She gave her MIL plenty of warning, and her MIL didn’t seem to mind at all.

I told my MIL this and promised to put a mattress protector on the bed my daughter slept in, and if she had an accident, I’d clean it up.

MIL was fine with this.

During the entire week that we stayed with MIL, my daughter didn’t have a single accident.

But towards the end of the trip, that all changed.

But on the day before we left, MIL walked in on my daughter using the toilet (she sometimes forgets to lock the door).

MIL totally freaked out and ran to me to tell me that my daughter was sitting on the toilet backward (facing the tank).

She tried to defend her daughter.

I tried to explain that it was common for kids who are toilet training to sit backward because the position feels more secure.

She wasn’t listening and kept going on about how it was “unhealthy” and my daughter was “weird and unclean.”

She couldn’t believe her MIL could be so insensitive!

I lost my temper and snapped at her for insulting my kid over a totally normal behavior, and we left.

She’s been ignoring me ever since.

I know I shouldn’t have yelled, but she also shouldn’t have been so rude about my daughter showing a common behavior that wasn’t making a mess.

So, AITA?

It may have been a long time since her MIL had toilet trained her own kids, but surely she couldn’t have forgotten all of her compassion?

What did Reddit think?

This redditor thinks a lot of online parenting advice is as unsolicited as it is toxic.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with mirroring someone’s energy.

Uncommon does not necessarily equal not normal.

As a mother herself, her MIL should have known better than to give this kind of unsolicited advice.

With all matters in life, a little empathy goes a long way.

They say it takes a village, but grandma should have sat this one out.

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.