Researchers Say You Would Be Much Happier If You Hung Out With Your Mother-In-Law – Eyeroll

I get along well with most people. I pride myself on being a gracious sort of person who is polite to people and who tries to be empathetic and can usually get along okay with most everyone. But the reason I don’t spend a lot of time with my mother-in-law is because I have zero interest in her two favorite hobbies, which are criticizing my husband and my children and watching her watch TV. But according to The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index:

Those who had weekly contact with their mother and mother-in-law had a wellbeing score of 78.7, well above the normal range of 73.7-76.7.

Those in frequent contact with their mother had a well-being score of 74 out of 100 and those who saw their mother-in-law scored 73.1.

Those who rarely or never saw either their mother and mother-in-law had a below average well being score of 71.6.

My wellbeing score is way below average. OH WELL. There are so many other factors involved in this, I’m sure. I can’t believe that you would still have a high “wellbeing” score if your MIL was some horrible person and you still spent time with her. That seems to me like it would shoot your wellbeing score way down.

I think it’s wonderful when people get along with their mothers-in-law because it gives you another human in your life to have a close relationship with, they can help you with babysitting and give you advice on raising your kids, you can become friends and do things together. But when your MIL is not a super nice person and has zero interest in her grandchildren and doesn’t seem to like you or your spouse, well, that’s a whole different story. I keep my wellbeing score high by only seeing my MIL when I absolutely have to.

(Photo: Everett Collection/shutterstock)