Her In-Laws Expect Her To Bake And Sew For Them Whenever They Want, But She Wants To Teach Them How To Do It Themselves
by Jayne Elliott
Baking and sewing are two activities that some people love to do, but that other people would rather not do.
In today’s story, one woman knows how to bake and sew, and her mother-in-law and sister-in-law ask her to bake and sew for them quite often.
At first she didn’t mind, but now, she thinks they should learn how to bake and sew themselves.
Let’s see how the story unfolds…
AITA for insisting my inlaws hang out with me if they want me to do favors for them
My mother taught me how to sew and bake at an early age.
Consequently I would say I’m pretty good at both.
Since I got married, my inlaws have occasionally asked me to hem dresses for them, and to bake cookies or cupcakes for random events.
I didn’t mind because I would take it as a compliment that they would want me to do this for them.
However, recently my sister in law has taken up thrifting, so she has been dropping off about three items a week for me to alter.
And my mother in law started a new job about 4 months ago, and she has asked me to bake for her monthly work potlucks.
She is starting to feel like her MIL and SIL are taking advantage of her sewing and baking skills.
I have never charged them, but my SIL will bring me Starbucks and my MIL will bring me the ingredients for whatever I am baking.
The truth is that I am now feeling resentful about being expected to do things for them, when they could just learn how to do this themselves.
I have offered to teach them, but they always say that they don’t need to learn since they like the way I do things.
She told her MIL she wouldn’t bake for her unless her MIL was there while she baked.
This month I told them that I could still help them with each project but they have to stay and hang out with me while I do them.
This way they can watch and learn so they can eventually do it on their own.
I told my MIL what day and time to be at my home so we can bake the cupcakes together.
She said she might not be able to.
So I said “if you don’t come hang out then you’ll have to stop by a bakery and buy them instead”.
She told her SIL she won’t alter the dresses for her until she can come over to watch.
Two weeks ago my SIL dropped off 2 dresses for me to alter the hem, and I told her that I’ll get to them whenever she can come over and watch how I do it.
She said she would let me know, but hasn’t yet.
She didn’t look too happy with this.
Her husband thinks she should be honest instead of changing the rules.
We all get along and I know they like me, and I know that it’s not that they don’t want to hang out with me, it’s just that they don’t want to learn.
I think they just want me to keep doing it for them.
After I told my husband about all this, he implied that I was mean for changing how I do things.
And that if I don’t want to do these projects for them, then just say so.
I think it’s only fair.
I’m sure my in-laws also think that I’m the a-hole for my new expectations.
So AITA?
Her MIL and SIL definitely seem to be taking advantage of her generosity.
Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story…
This reader thinks she needs to talk to her husband about the situation again.
It shouldn’t be too much to ask to hang out with her while she does the favors.
Perhaps the MIL and SIL don’t respect her time.
This reader thinks her skills are harder to learn than she realizes.
Perhaps the MIL and SIL could do something else for her in exchange.
She is really being too accommodating.
It’s time they realized how much she’s doing for free.
If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.
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