We all probably know that children spending time with their grandparents is beneficial for both sides. But this is only applicable when the grandparents can be trusted with children.
The grandma in today's story isn't one of those. Well, at least in her daughter-in-law's eyes. Her mistrust was heightened when during a trip, her mother-in-law requested to keep her and her daughter's passports. And when she looked back at her MIL's behavior with this in mind, a lot more things became even more suspicious.
More info: mumsnet
Apparently, not all grandparents can be trusted to be left with their grandchildren
Image credits: Gustavo Fring (not the actual photo)
Like in this story, where during a family trip, the mother-in-law asked to keep her granddaughter's and her mom's passports
Image credits: Spencer Davis (not the actual photo)
This seemed weird to the woman, since the MIL didn't ask for her son's passport
Image credits: shurkin_son (not the actual photo)
So, the woman started questioning why the mother-in-law needed her passport and came up with the theory that she wanted to abduct her daughter
Image credits: ILikeEggsAnd
Memories of the grandma not wanting to let go of her grandbaby just proved to the woman that her suspicions might be valid
The incident that sparked this story happened when OP and her family were visiting her mother-in-law, who lives in Croatia, which is located in the Balkan Peninsula in Europe. The whole visit took 10 days.
At the start of the trip, the mother-in-law asked the author and her daughter to give their passports to her to keep for the entirety of the trip. Her justification was that she wanted to keep them safe and didn’t want her daughter-in-law to forget them when they were going anywhere.
Taking your passport along with you anywhere you go in Croatia isn’t such a terrible idea. There, law enforcement have the authority to conduct random identification checks. For them, it is advisable for people to have identification documents.
Yet, the OP suspected that the reason why her MIL asked for these passports wasn’t this. Something seemed sinister. Why did she ask only for her and her daughter’s passports, but not her husband’s?
That’s when the woman started connecting the dots. Her theory was that the mother-in-law was planning her granddaughter’s abduction! Well, no matter how bizarre this might sound, it wouldn’t be the first time this happened in the world. Here, for example, in 2021, a couple kidnapped their grandchild in Sacramento and took him to Peru. The child was returned to his parents only after 13 months.
What created the abduction theory in the OP’s mind was the fact that the MIL had mentioned that she hated the way her own daughter turned out. And so, maybe now she wanted to have a redo with her granddaughter.
As proof of that, the author recalled instances when her husband’s mom didn’t want to give her back her daughter. Mind you, the girl was screaming, crying, and had her arms outstretched for her mom to pick her up, but her grandma still didn’t want to give her up. Already a suspicious act in itself, isn’t it?
Well, adding it to her suspicious request about the passports, all of it seemed too unsettling. So, it’s no surprise the woman refused to give them to her. Her head was filled with ideas of what could happen if she did.
Image credits: ansiia (not the actual photo)
For instance, what if the MIL decided to purposely lose or destroy them? Yes, it’s illegal to ruin someone's official government record passport. If it was true that the mother-in-law was set on abducting her granddaughter, would this stop her? Likely not.
So, it’s crystal clear that the OP doesn’t trust her mother-in-law. And not giving her the passports wasn’t the only measure the woman took. She also didn’t plan to let her baby be alone with grandma. Maybe it would harm their mutual bond, but it ensured the girl’s safety.
Another measure in the plans is that the author’s husband will not travel with the girl to Croatia alone or get his daughter Croatian citizenship. Basically, the woman wants to keep her daughter at arm's reach at all times.
All these steps seemed normal to people on the internet. Just like the OP, they found the MIL’s request suspicious. So, peeps urged the woman to not give in to such weird demands and to protect herself and her daughter.
Additionally, a few pointed out the difficulties of the woman’s marriage. They were shocked that the husband seemingly brushed off his mom’s behavior. There was even one comment that brought up the fact that this wasn’t even the first post about marriage troubles this woman had posted. As they said, there’s a bigger picture. But even that bigger picture doesn’t seem so bright, since it probably features a non-working marriage.
At this point, we cannot be sure what the truth is here. Is the OP's marriage really on the brink of divorce? Is the grandmother really planning to abduct her granddaughter? Well, it wouldn't even be the first story of a woman worrying about her mom-in-law basically trying to take her kid for herself. Still, it doesn't make this one less dramatic, scary, and sad at the same time.
People online assured the woman that the situation was indeed questionable and that her mistrust of the MIL was reasonable
