A woman says her mother-in-law has been “body shaming” her 15-year-old daughter — and she’s had enough.
In a Reddit post, the mother explained that her daughter went shopping with her grandmother, but the outing quickly turned sour.
According to her, her daughter picked out a dress, only for her grandmother to say she shouldn’t gain any more weight or it wouldn’t fit. As they left the store, the grandmother reportedly added that she hoped the girl wouldn’t “take after her mother and older sister with our big hips.”
The mother described the incident as the breaking point:
“I’m livid. This isn’t the first time she’s commented on the girls’ clothing sizes in a negative way, and she also does a lot of calorie shaming and whatnot in front of the kids. [My husband] has told her before to STOP it with the body shaming and food drama, but she has not stopped. This was the last straw because it was so overtly awful.”
When confronted, the grandmother phoned her son with what the mother described as a “quick apology” before growing defensive.
“She claimed that [my daughter] didn’t understand what she really meant. She was offended that my daughter repeated her words to us—‘Do I need to micromanage everything I say to her in case she repeats it to you?’ Then she told [my husband] that she wouldn’t buy them clothes anymore, would just send money instead, and didn’t want him coming over to ‘reprimand’ her.”
The mother said she’s willing to reopen communication if her mother-in-law shows true remorse, but added, “I am extremely pessimistic that this will happen.”
Other Reddit users shared their opinions, with one noting, “If your MIL refuses to even discuss her problematic behavior, you’d be enabling her if you didn’t impose any consequences. And your MIL would likely only expand her inappropriate comments to your daughter, likely blaming her for sharing with you.”
Another user wrote: “I would severely restrict her visit times and continue doing so until she proved she’s changed. Her refusing to have a real discussion shows she has zero intent to change.”
