What I'm not saying out loud in 2021 (IWLTS)

[Princess Morripov]

Oh that’s really fucking rude, WeJa.

[wendy james]

Ach, I’m fine. And my girls love clothes so will have had great fun spending grandma’s money. It just felt a bit pointed getting pictures of them in their new clothes last night, but I’d never ask.

[sally maclennane]

My aunt's MIL used to buy bits of steak and fish for my uncle, just him not my aunt or cousins. She used to post them through the letter box so my aunt would "accidentally" let the cat get them

[ParisGal]

Posting meat through the letterbox for your poor deprived son who can't cook, eat out, or discuss what he really wants with his wife

[Luce]

Oh bloody Hell, Wendy! In laws! Mine tries to tell me off for T being fat and then gives me tutorials on how one might chop up a carrot or an onion.

Saying that, being completely unfair, I LOVE it when my mum buys the kids clothes. She’ll always get them the expensive stuff so I don’t have to

[Lily]

Don't grans just enjoy buying kids clothes - especially girls? ;sweepinggeneralisation: My great aunt went crazy buying me clothes every time I saw her. Posting meat through the letterbox is the very edge of insanity though.

IWLTS: Stop your dog barking after 2300 or I will stop it for you.

[wendy james]

My aunt's MIL used to buy bits of steak and fish for my uncle, just him not my aunt or cousins. She used to post them through the letter box so my aunt would "accidentally" let the cat get them

That’s mental.

P took the opportunity to cook all meat/chicken based meals while I was away with the girls so is a bit over it (he said he definitely noticed the effect!) anyway.

[Morganna]

Oh God! I will be a MIL soon - to all intents and purposes I already am. I really want to get it right, but it’s the same as when you have babies - you just have to wing it and hope for the best. There have been no awkward situations so far, AFAIK, anyway . They might all be posting on forums about how horrible I am, though.

[Edith Bacon]

Morgs - try not to shove meat through their letterbox and you should be golden

[Morganna]

I'll try

[Pippedydeadeye]

IWLTS You’ve absolutely blown it now, you homophobic, sexist prick.

[Kleio]

You ok Pip? Can we ask for more detail?

[Pippedydeadeye]

Bloody FIL again! He really got stuck in with Squeak. She just about held her cool, but C is devastated that his dad would say what he did, and be so completely oblivious to the effect he was having. I think even MIL was mortified this time.

He thinks you’re having a jolly conversation abd that he’s playing Devil’s advocate or something, but he’s just showing himself up for the bigot he actually is. And it’s sad because his only granddaughter thinks he’s a complete tool for it.

[rosy]

Oh, how disappointing. I hope you and Squeak are ok.

[Margo]

IWLTS I’m hope you’re going to be happy. But if not, that’s on you. You’re adults with your own lives, you’re not going to ruin mine again!

[Dáire]

I'm getting the sense many of us saw parents over the weekend

Mine is: You can barely hold an adult conversation anymore without derailing it with some Daily Mail soundbite. Do you hear yourself, squawking "a black uniform? Black? You can't say black anymore, get chucked in jail for that' in front of my confused children, or insisting 'you get arrested for that now, it's against their yuman rights' over some trivial notion?

And as for you, the Little Luddite Lost act has long gone stale, and no one's even buying it. You interrupt so much with your insistence that you do not understand words like 'online', then launch into your monologue about how the world is so hard now that the technoweb has taken over and you 'can't go anywhere now' or 'do anything' because 'it's all apps'. You don't go anywhere, do anything or speak to anyone because you enjoy that life. You bank online, you own and use a smartphone, spend every waking moment in front of a smart television you are adept at browsing, saving and scheduling upon, you browse, download and play online games and you use email - and yes, you've shopped online. So stop with the 'woe is me' act. You're 60, not 95, and frankly there are 95 year olds who'd be embarrassed to be faking helpnessness as you do. Richard Littlejohn is paid to claim modern life is too baffling to exist in - you are not.

You might have noticed I stopped speaking in anything other than yes or no answers about 12 years ago, loathe to begin a sentence I know I'll never get to finish or that'll be interrupted by some confusing soundbite about 'elf n safety gone mad' or 'oh I do so long for the days I could pay with a bushel of onions or a pail of milk.' Or perhaps you haven't.

[Pippedydeadeye]

If my FIL were on the market, they’d be a perfect match!

For us, it was rampant homophobia for 15 straight minutes. He said he doesn’t like butch lesbians, or “being served in shoes by effeminate gay men foisting their gayness” on him. What a bigoted idiot.

What’s even worse is that both his sons have specifically warned him not to bait the kids with his bollocks. But he thinks it’s all a laugh, a bit of a giggle.

He started on me, asking if I’d seen “Sir Keir’s tears” and going into why unions destroyed the workplace but I didn’t have the energy for it yesterday. Now I feel bad that I didn’t wear him out before he got to Squeak.

[Dáire]

It's one thing to bait adult children, another to home in on actual children. That's really crossing a line. Do you reckon you'll stay away from them for a bit?

[Pippedydeadeye]

Yes, I really think we will. But I feel bad for MIL because of that.

[Ruby]

What a knob, Pip. The only thing you can do is give him a wide berth.