yeah, we've been having that conversation since I had babies. We actually have a couple of topics that are off limits because she's been so rude as to say she basically thought I was killing her grandchildren with some of the choices I've made (I like to rely on both alternative and standard medicine, and she's not comfortable with anything alternative). Needless to say my children are thriving, beautiful and incredibly affectionate, hardly ever sick at all.

But the food thing is just so hard for me. She'll say she's doing south beach, and then help herself to an oversize desert. She thinks ice cream is an appropriate food for an 8 month old, even if it's not okay for her. And with the latest ice cream incident, she bragged to me it was low(er) fat, sugar free, as if that made a difference some how, when I'd already said "no". It's not so much that she tells me how to raise my kids, its that she undermines the dietary guidelines I'm trying to establish. The other night at dinner I gave them a small helping of mashed potatoes (because she'd made them just for the kids and I was trying to be polite). I told her I didn't want them to have a lot of potatoes While I was feeding the baby some bites, she gave my 2.5 year old another heaping spoonful of potatoes, when she hadn't even touched her meat or vegetables. I was so furious. Then I had to try to convince my toddler she couldn't eat the potatoes on her plate until she finished her veggies: that didn't really work! All this from a woman who KNOWS south beach, has read carbohydrate addicts, and sugar busters. A woman who herself is morbidly obese, and who has 2 daughters who are both overweight (though not as bad as she is) and a son who also has struggled with his weight. Obviously her method doesn't produce healthy results, I don't understand why she would want to disadvantage her grandchildren so!

Not visiting really isn't an option. My husband has been quite ill for several months now, and is on dissability. I am somewhat dependant on the help his parents give us, as is he on their support for him in this difficult time. I would seriously go crazy if it weren't for the time we spend there and I get a break.