Crazy Mother in Law

Since your mom in law is difficult to talk with, I would just try to focus on showing the children that ants aren't scary--perhaps you can take them to a park and let one crawl onto a leaf and show it to them, or maybe buy a small ant farm if you have any outside space at home. Also, when you take them to the beach, show them how everyone is playing in the sand, so they will see how it is not at all frightening. Kids learn so much by seeing others actions and less by words. Let your mom in law see you talking to your children, to show her that YOU have the final say in what they learn. I hope this can help.

just tell your mother in law that you are concerb\ned about your 2 year old.. that she is saying things like.. what you said above.. and you think it's scaring her. tell your mother in law.. you don't know where she is learning this.. but you are worried for your child.. tell her if your child keeps saying things like this.. you are going to have find out where it's coming from. tell her to help you to calm your child down.. and make ants.. and other things not scarey. Tell her you don't want her being frightened... also does your children see her a lot? does she watch them. maybe it's time to remove them from being around her so much... good luck

Counteract her. If she is saying these things in front of your children do a little damage control right away in front of your mil.

She will always do what she wants anyway no matter what you say becasue she probably believes she is always right so explaining anything may not make a difference. She also sounds like she lacks a censor from her brain to her mouth. If worse come to worse have your husband talk to her and have him put his foot down. She is his mother after all.

just tune it out and when you and the kids are alone just say grandma was joking if they remember it at all that is. At one and two years old although they are absorbing things like sponges they are so so busy that unless it's really earth shattering they'll pay little mind to it and really is it worth all this worry?

You have your hands full but congratulations on being so industrious and ambitious with two littles ones to care for.

No where in your telling the story did you mention, your husband or his interaction when these events have taken place. So it feels a little onesided. If he is in agreement with you and your concerns. He needs to talk with his mother and you may need to develop better boundaries. Perhaps only allowing supervised visits with the children where you try to buffer the conversation.

I was trying to raise my son with out having him exposed to candies before he was six years old but his paternal grandparents would give him various candies while he was with them. Even after I spoke to them about it they still insisted on giving him candy. I know to many this may seem like not such a big deal but it was to me.

Ultimately they continued to expose him to candy but I continued to prohibit his candy intake. He is 14 now and enjoys breaking my rules with their help occassionally but there are consequences for these things. My son has had to have some dental work done. The dentist specifically targeted the problems to his candy intake. Now he listens to me more and them less because he knows I really do want the best for him.

You can show your daughter how to not be afraid of things and to face her fears. Where things are totally not true, you can be the one who shows her the truth.

In her lifetime there will be many people speaking beliefs, thoughts and other things into her head that have nothing to do with the truth but you continue to maintain an open, honest, and supportive place for her to come to hear the truth and to gain solice from a very scary world.

Try not to trouble yourself over some one you can't control. You can only control you and how you respond to this situation.