I’m Anna. At 23, I married my childhood sweetheart. I always remembered my mother-in-law being so incredibly sweet to me when I was little. However, once the wedding was officially set and I went from being “the sweet girl next door” to “part of the family,” her kind demeanor vanished. Both my father-in-law and my husband cater to her every single whim, using her illness as an excuse. After I gave birth to my daughter, my feelings toward my mother-in-law turned into straight-up disgust. Then one day, she came to us and said, “My daughter’s getting married, so give her 300,000 yen as a wedding gift.”
When I decided to get married, I truly wanted to support my mother-in-law alongside my husband. But that didn’t mean “obey her every command” or “hand over cash whenever she demands it.” Even if we attend his sister’s wedding as a family, I feel like 100,000 yen is more than reasonable. The 300,000 yen my mother-in-law is demanding is just completely out of line.
Now that I have a daughter of my own to protect, I’ve made up my mind that I can’t keep letting my mother-in-law walk all over us. I just hope my husband can understand where I’m coming from…