I learned a lot about my MIL last night.

I've known my in-laws for 10 years. They're not bad people and do a great job caring for friends and family. They are also highly opinionated and aggressive with their opinions. Particularly, when it comes to offering up those opinions on the parenting decisions of my wife and I.The story is long and full of drama, but for the TLDR-sensitive, I'll try to focus on the event with the most long term impact.Last night, we were celebrating a combination of the 4th of July and a housewarming with my sister-in-law. My daughter, who will be 2 next Saturday, doesn't handle well sleeping in a different environment. It's just how she is at the moment. We are working with her, but aren't stressing. She's young.To start, we live an hour away. Initially, we weren't going to stay the night. We got talked out of that against our better judgement. Then, we warned all family involved that our daughter would be sticking to her normal bedtime. With that began a weeks long battle with my in-laws as a whole. "She can stay up late, she'll be fine." - "You guys should stay, she will miss the fireworks." - "She will just sleep in the next day." None of them have to deal with her when she's popping up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes or when she's a tyrant because she's exhausted or have to get up with her at 6am when she normally gets up (a 2 year old doesn't necessarily sleep in).When my wife and I spent 2 hours of yesterday evening trying to get her to go to bed, we pulled the plug. Packed the car and prepared to head home. As I'm hauling stuff to the car, there was zero help from any one in the family as they stood complaining that we were leaving. My MIL led the charge.She offered nothing but judgment. "She is going to have to learn to adjust. She's old enough to know that." - "What a shame for her to have to miss the fireworks." (If she was asleep she would have missed them anyway.) - "I'm glad I'm done raising children."My MIL has always been fairly self involved. She loves her family and her granddaughter, but in some fashion things have to be geared toward her pleasure. She behaved like my daughter was something for her to be seen with. Like because we were leaving, her chance to have some fabricated moment in her mind wasn't playing out. Just a guess, though. Last night was a very eye opening experience. Not the first, but very much a turning point in how I will be handling future interactions. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2S0kVn7