Hey there, for a change I am talking something sensible today … maybe.
It all started with a joke forwarded as WhatsApp message, about a women who treated her Mother and Mother-in-law differently (Seems a lot of controversial topics are triggered by whatsapp messages these days). This further lead to an interesting discussion during lunch-break between few guys of my team and I.
I told them that a girl would call and talk to her MIL just like she calls her own family or at least make an effort to connect with her once in a while. But I have never seen a guy calling his wife’s parents on his own. Of course he would speak to them if she calls and hands over the phone. But never willingly will he dial their number unless situations arise.
To which, surprisingly, all the guys agreed. And they belong to three different Asian nationalities. They think it’s pretty normal for a guy not to call his father-in-law and chat up, unless he is a Goldsmith or the owner of Dan Murphy’s 😛
To be frank, I have given my husband a lot of grief about not calling my parents. (He would though, after a hundred reminders). But now that I have seen at least 5 other guys doing the same, I wonder what exactly is different. Is it culture or upbringing or just their skewed DNA? Why they are so ‘weirded’ by the thought of talking to their Mother-in-law?
And this train of thought leads to further questions on how easily the duty of maintaining relationship between families falls on the girl!!
What do you think?
See, if it wasn't forced upon you, would you call your in-laws? I wouldn't. Not because they are bad people or anything, it is just very boring to talk about weather and food and the works!
The boys have it easy since it is not mandatory for them. I don't force my husband. He calls my family on special occasions like birthdays, Diwali, New Years. I would be ok if he doesn't. We all should have the freedom to talk to whoever we want and whenever we want. It should happen for love and nothing else.
Never once did I put a thought into this though I've seen it so commonly. I'd assumed they were all exceptions rather than examples. I suppose it is just their 'skewed DNAs'… :p , I don't seem to understand why otherwise.