She Refuses to Talk to Her Husband and Son Until They Apologize to Her Mother-in-Law. Is She Acting Like a Jerk?

Uh oh, the in-law battles are ramping up again.

But this story has a bit of a twist on the old classic…

Read on to see what happened in this story from the “Am I the A**hole?” page on Reddit and you can draw your own conclusions.

AITA for refusing to talk to my son and husband until they apologize to my MIL?

“My MIL Sandra (69F) is a “weird” woman, (she refers to herself as that).

She has random outbursts, hyper fixations, tics and struggles immensely with social cues. She hasn’t been diagnosed with anything, so I won’t speculate.

When I first met my husband’s family, I noticed that all of them (except my husband) made fun of Sandra and her “quirks”. For example, we were having dinner one night, and my MIL couldn’t stop talking about flowers (she loves plants and nature, and is super knowledgeable about it).

My SIL made a comment making fun of her, and everybody at the table laughed about it. Sandra got extremely embarrassed and didn’t talk for the rest of the night.

This kind of behaviour is normal in the family, and I despise it. I get so angry whenever someone makes fun of Sandra, because she is just such a kind, lovely woman that I just can’t fathom why they do that. I’ve had a lot of conversations about this with my husband, and even fights when he laughs about the “jokes”.

We have a son (15m) named Alex, and my biggest fear is becoming true. Alex has started to pick up the behaviour around him and has been laughing of Sandra. I’ve talked to him about why laughing at her is bullying, how that behaviour is inappropriate, etc., but Alex doesn’t seem to care.

Two weeks ago, we went to see Sandra. My BIL and SIL were there along their families. Sandra looked very happy. While catching up, she randomly started clapping (one the tics that appear when she is excited).

My BIL made a comment poking fun of her and the whole family laughed including my husband and Alex. Sandra got teary eyed and had to excuse to herself to the bathroom.

I have never been more furious. While in our way home, I chewed my husband and son out, and told them to not speak to me until they apologize to Sandra. I told them that I don’t want to hear a single word directed to me until they reflect on how their actions are hurtful and disgusting.

Two weeks have passed and I haven’t spoke to them. Not a single word, because they have made 0 attempts on apologizing to Sandra. My husband is telling me that I’m being petty and hurting Alex. He is also mad at me for “valuing my relation with Sandra more than my relation with them”.

In my mind, I am not doing that, but husband says that I am being an AH.”