Getting along with family is important, but sometimes this can be difficult for some uncomfortable reasons.

What would you do if your mother-in-law struggled with very strong and unpleasant odors to the point where you didn’t want to be anywhere around her?

That is the situation the daughter-in-law in this story is in and while she doesn’t want to hurt her feelings, she also can’t tolerate being around that odor, so she doesn’t know what to do.

Check it out.

Smelly MIL

For quite some time now, my mother in law has had an odor to her.

She is about 300 pounds and does little take care of herself.

This sounds pretty gross.

I am very sensitive to smells.

When we are at family functions, her apartment or go out to eat I strategically put myself as far away from her as possibly.

The smell is like old urine mixed with filth.

I’m a special needs teacher of children who wear briefs and nothing compares to this.

It’s gotten to the point that I can’t take it and have recently started to set boundaries.

We went to my nephews band concert and I said I’d drive separate from her and my husband after she made it known she didn’t want to drive alone there.

When we got there I sat in the aisle and made my husband sit next to her.

Someone has to tell her.

She started questioning why my husband didn’t get the aisle due to his mobility issues.

And before you think I’m a jerk in that regard, it wouldn’t have made a difference for my husband either way.

Now she wants to come to our Memorial Day outing after not going for the past five years which means we would have to drive her.

My husband said I’ll need to get over it if she decides to come.

AITA if I decide to bail?

Bad smells can be pretty off-putting.

It isn’t easy, but her kids need to talk to her about this, maybe she needs some type of help.

Let’s see what the people in the comments say about this difficult situation.

This might be a good way to bring it up.

This person also works with special needs people.

Here is someone who dealt with something similar.

This commenter says it could be a serious health issue.

This person says that the husband needs to step up.

This is a conversation her husband needs to have with his mom.

The bottom line, however, is that the mother-in-law needs to be talked to so she can get the help she needs.

Basic hygiene issue or medical problem, either way, mom needs help.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.