Woman worried in-laws are manipulating her because she ‘can’t say no’
A woman is wondering whether her parents-in-law are being manipulative when they send invitations to her instead of her husband because they know she has trouble saying no.
The woman shared her struggle on Reddit’s “Inlaws” forum and asked her fellow Redditors whether they thought her in-laws were being manipulative.
The woman explained that she enjoys spending time with her parents-in-law, but she doesn’t want to attend every single event they invite her to. For a long time, the woman’s in-laws would direct invitations to her husband. However, lately, they have been sending the invitations to her instead.
“They’ve started sending [invitations] to me, [because] they’ve noticed I can’t say no,” the woman wrote.
Whenever her in-laws want to make sure she and her husband will attend a get-together, they text her instead of her husband. “They just text me so they know we won’t reject their invitation,” she explained.
At first, the woman didn’t mind receiving the invitations, but lately, she has begun to wonder whether her in-laws are being manipulative. “I’ve started to feel they’re pushing me to just go and see them even when I don’t feel like it,” she explained.
“Is this manipulation?” she asked.
Some Redditors agreed that the in-laws were being manipulative.
“It is pure manipulation. Do not answer their texts,” one Redditor advised.
“It is manipulative. When my in-laws would contact me instead of hubby I would just say, ‘Ok, I’ll let ‘hubby’ know.’ It’s annoying and obvious what they were trying to pull,” another Redditor shared.
Other Redditors shared their advice for how to get better at saying “no.”
“‘No’ is a muscle. Yours needs work! Use it. The more you do, the stronger it will get,” one Redditor advised.
“Redirect them to your husband. ‘Thank you for inviting us! Husband and I will discuss it and he’ll get back to you.’ This way you’re still friendly and not the bad guy,” wrote another Redditor.
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