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Is it ok to not be facebook friends with your in-laws?

My hubbies parents are on facebook. I'm on facebook. However, I do not want to be friends with them on facebook. Is that wrong?

Reasons:

His dad likes to post about our religion (we share the same religion/ christian) while saying controversial things about our church (we go to the same church)

I just don't want them prying into my business all the time (his mother can be nosy: as in every single sentence i say in front of her that she couldn't hear, she makes me repeat it so she knows everything i say.

 

Now i've stuck my ground and not friended them but my hubby says i'm being rude and thinks it's wrong of me..... any input?

p.s. its a light topic, not really a big deal but i'd like to see where other people stand so please be nice! 

Re: Is it ok to not be facebook friends with your in-laws?

  • I'm torn.  On one hand, I think it's your business who you add as a friend on Facebook and your husband is being overbearing and intrusive on this.  On the other hand, it's about forty kinds of stupid to put things that you don't want the world knowing right there on the internet.

    So, I guess my overall answer is for you two kids to get off the damn computers, and also off of my lawn.

    image
  • The concept that it's "rude" to not friend them is another example (to me) of how FB is made to be way more important than it really is.

    You're allowed to have parts of your life that aren't open to your IL's, including FB.  If you want to keep it a "friends only" place, that's your right. 

    However, keep in mind that you can also limit their security access to your page and posts if you want!

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  • I have several friends that create a seperate profile for their family/in-laws and their "real" profile uses a nick name that they wouldn't expect family to try to search. 

    It may save you a lot of trouble in the long run. 

  • WahooWahoo member
    Ancient Membership 2500 Comments 5 Love Its Combo Breaker

    I don't mind being friends with any of dh's family (that I speak to), but I don't friend any of them.  I let them friend me, that way I don't feel I am encroaching on their privacy.

    I have a family member that I am "friends" with (my family, not dh).  She is blocked from seeing my wall, although she can send me a message and see my photos.  Also, her posts annoy me, so I block her feeds.  Every once in a while I look at her page, and I wish her a happy birthday, but that's about it.

    image "Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.
  • If they haven't asked to Friend you yet, then I wouldn't put the request out to them.  

    Or, are they the ones requesting you, and you've repeatedly denied their requests? Ditto PP who said it's your right to friend people or not, but if you keep denying them then I think that could lead to hurt feelings. I would accept the request, but block their daily feeds if their statements bother you, and set your security settings so that their access to your page is limited.

    And of course, don't put anything online that you'd be ashamed to have certain people read (which is just a smart thing to do in general, in-law issues aside). If there's stuff on your FB page that you wouldn't want you in-laws to see, then that's a sign that you should really think twice about what you post or allow your friends to post.

    Or like PP said, create a second profile for family members, so that they can see your photos and you can all chat. But the risk there is if they see your original profile and then get offended that they're not part of the VIP list.

    Facebook is such a double-edged sword. It causes so much childish, unnecessary drama in people's lives.

    image
  • I am friends with several of DH's family members, but they all had to find me.  Occasionally I wish a family member wasn't my fb friend, but mostly that's my family not his (whole other story).  For the most part, his cousins and I keep in contact that way.  His mom is on there, but she's pretty harmless (and that's mostly because she doesn't know how to use most of the features on it). 

    My e-mail address, on the other hand, is a whole other story...

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  • I've had my MIL sitting in friend "limbo" for a month already. I have no intentions of friending her and I don't think you are being rude at all.
    image "Evolutionary game theorists...ignoring beebees on the nest since 2005"
  • I accepted my MIL's request, but I set my privacy stuff so that she only sees photos of DD and my basic info, not my wall or other photos (you can set exceptions to rules, like "can be seen by all of my friends; except MIL).  I also blocked her in my feed.  It's not worth offending her, but yeah, the idea of her seeing my status's, comments other people make on my wall, etc., makes me feel weird.  I am friends with my parents though; for some reason I find taht less intrusive.
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  • I am only friends with H's cousins that are our age and my MIL. H's family is nosy as hell, and you can't do anything in his family without the entire family knowing within five minutes. You mow your lawn one day late and you get chewed out. So I have his grandmother and aunts and uncles blocked so they can't see my page at all. Mainly because H works for his uncle so trying to save H's ass at work, once H leaves for basic then I will unblock everyone but not until them. So it is perfectly fine in my opinion to not be friends with your in laws
    ?I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.? ~Walt Disney
  • It's fine not to be friends with your in-laws on facebook. You don't even have to be friends with them in real life.

    I thought I had my privacy settings adjusted so that my MIL couldn't even find me in a search, but apparently I didn't because she found me anyway and sent me a friend request. I rarely use facebook as it is, and I don't need her $hitting up my wall with her ignorant, juvenile opinions. So I'm not going to friend her, and if she has anything to say about it (which I'm sure she will), I'll just tell her that I prefer not to have family as facebook friends, which is also true.

  • Friend and then set your privacy settings so they can't see much but can still use it to private message you.
  • I refused to have my FIL on my facebook.  And my DH backs me up.  What I do and how I do it is not their business and so Facebook is off limits.  I need a place where I can post my thoughts and pictures as I see fit and they don't need to see that.
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  • There is NO WAY I'd friend my IL's on FB.  Most MIL's (and mine especially) are very nosy and take everything out of context and it would end in disaster!  My MIL isnt even allowed to email because of past issues and I'd have no problem ignoring her fb requests if she sent me any.
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  • yea i agree, if its a big deal NOT to add them, just change your privacy settings for those certain people. thats what i did. im friends with all the cousins on my side and his but all the older generation on facebook i accepted but they have VERY limited access to my page.
  • I wish I could not be facebook friends with my MIL, however to avoid drama I am.  Unfortunately because I put her on a "limited profile" it only caused more drama.  Everything was fine for a long time (about 6 months) but then she figured out she was on a "limited profile" and got PISSED.  So she had my BIL (the one i CANT stand) text my DH to deal with the "situation".  

    Long story short....even if you accept/friend your in-laws I recommend to not put them on a limited profile because it can eventually make things worse! 

  • imagecatty189:

    My hubbies parents are on facebook. I'm on facebook. However, I do not want to be friends with them on facebook. Is that wrong?

    Reasons:

    His dad likes to post about our religion (we share the same religion/ christian) while saying controversial things about our church (we go to the same church)

    I just don't want them prying into my business all the time (his mother can be nosy: as in every single sentence i say in front of her that she couldn't hear, she makes me repeat it so she knows everything i say.

     

    Now i've stuck my ground and not friended them but my hubby says i'm being rude and thinks it's wrong of me..... any input?

    p.s. its a light topic, not really a big deal but i'd like to see where other people stand so please be nice! 

    Absolutely it's okay. I'm on FB, some of my ILs are as well. They were told that I don't add family on FB and they seem to be... well, fine might be the best word; accepting at the very least. And how they feel is up to them. I don't want them, I'm not adding them. My reasons are my own. How they react is their call.
  • imagecandreco:
    I accepted my MIL's request, but I set my privacy stuff so that she only sees photos of DD and my basic info, not my wall or other photos (you can set exceptions to rules, like "can be seen by all of my friends; except MIL).  I also blocked her in my feed.  It's not worth offending her, but yeah, the idea of her seeing my status's, comments other people make on my wall, etc., makes me feel weird.  I am friends with my parents though; for some reason I find taht less intrusive.

    This.

    Of course it's okay not to friend them, but why incur the drama?  Friend them, and immediately block them from seeing anything you post and hide them from your news feed.  Easy smeasy.  They think you just never post, and you never have to see their crap.

  • When DH and I were dating his mom and I were friends on fb. After we got engaged she started to say that things I posted on fb were attacks on her (they weren't, and had nothing to do with her). I eventually decided to unfriend her to put an end to all of the made-up drama. This just created more drama. She has blocked me (which also means all of my photos with her tagged in them-I can't view anymore-my photos) so I can't even find her on fb. While it doesn't sound like you and your inlaws have that strained a relationship, I say don't friend them. You need your space to vent and have your friends.  
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  • If I may add my two cents :)

    I am friends on FB with my FIL.  (MIL isn't on FB....yet).  Before he 'friended' me, I wasn't all that worried about what I wrote in my status.  Not that I was rude or anything, but if I was having a crappy day, I let my FB friends know I was having a crappy day and why.  Now that my FIL is a friend, I don't update my status as much.  He's the kind of guy that would message me 20 questions about why I was having a bad day and what I was doing about it and how do I think I could fix it.  Don't get me wrong, I love my IL's.  But I already have a Mother that I don't tell EVERYTHING to because she comes up with answers that only irritate me more than help me solve the problem.  (Most of my complaints are about work.)  I don't need my FIL doing the same.

    I say, if you have a good relationship with them, if they ask you to be friends, do it.  But just be prepared to either think twice before you post a status or, depending on what kind of people they are, have 20 questions asked of you.

     

     

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  • srgwsrgw member
    1000 Comments Third Anniversary 5 Love Its Combo Breaker

    I say it's perfectly fine to not be friends with your ILs.

    Personally, my FIL is not on FB and my MIL has a FB but isn't on it ever, but if they were on FB I'd be friends with them. My ILs are great people though. I have no issues with them. I am friends with SIL and H's aunts and a cousin of his. No problems thus far. 

  • thanks everyone for your input. i dont update my facebook often nor do i post things that i might not want the IL's to see. so i may friend them and limit their access. great advice guys!
  • I jst want to say if you have a friend in limbo they can still see when you add, friends, change your profile pics, and other little stuff like that. I noticed when I kept thinking my cousin & I were friends but we aren't, I just see random stuff like that though.

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  • I think it's perfectly fine to not be FB friends.  My MIL sent me a friend request when DH and I were engaged and I accepted, but as time went by I started liking her less and less and just the other day I deleted her as my friends.  I don't see the point of being FB friends with people who aren't my friends, and my MIL is definitely not my friend.
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  • It is totally acceptable not to friend your in-laws. thee are only a handful of his family that i am friends with, and that is mainly an age thing. I have NO intentions of EVER friending my in-laws. heck, its bad enough i have to talk to them in real life!
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  • add them but block their posts
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  • I did exactly this- set my privacy settings so my MIL only sees what I want her to see.  I do the same thing with co-workers.  I created a group of co-workers and then make rules for my status updates- can be seen by friends; except co-workers (or except MIL). 

    She mentioned once that she couldn't see anything on my facebook wall and I said "oh yeah, I set my profile to private because I only want to see other people's updates but I don't want to share my own personal info."  bull$*&t- I'm on Facebook like every 30 minutes and post status updates once a day.  Ha!

  • I think it's perfectly fine to not be facebook friends with your in-laws.  I have a nosy MIL as well and that's exactly why I'm not friends with her on facebook Smile

    I did have to explain why to DH, but eventually he understood...sometimes the best way to avoid conflict is to make sure it won't happen in the first place!

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