Source: Dean Mitchell / Getty
The internet is abounding with information, entertainment and conversations, but that doesn’t entirely mean that everything we see is true.
But more often than not, before we question the validity of something we’ve seen on the internet, we react first.
Which is why a skit about a wife and mother-in-law arguing about passenger positions has caused quite a stir.
In it, a man and his mother pull up to a woman and a girlfriend waiting for them on the sidewalk.
The mother is hanging out of the car, looking smug , while her son tells the wife to get in.
She immediately turns up, wondering why she has to get in the back seat when not only is she his wife, it’s her car they’re in.
Wifey makes arguments about being the woman in that man’s life now. The mother says that as the woman who brought him into the world, she’ll always be in his life.
It’s a skit so we’re not going to look too deeply into the people in this particular video. But what I was most intrigued by were the folks in the comment section.
There were some very strong feelings, likely speaking to some very contentious relationships between women in relationships with men and their mothers.
To me, it seemed like a non-issue.
If we’re both in the car, what does it really matter? I’m not finna have an elderly woman jumping in and out of the car or sliding across the backseat to get comfortable.
And if she tells me to take the front seat and she’ll get in the back, I’m cool with that too. I’m not in competition with my mother in law because we each play different roles in the life of the man that connects us.
But I think that’s where the issue lies. Confusion about roles or insecurity about position and influence can cause this type of drama. Men who aren’t entirely clear about the distinction between the roles of a wife and a mother, they’ll leave one or both women feeling disrespected or ignored entirely. Mothers who aren’t ready to let their sons go or have and unhealthy codependency problem will forever be intimidated by the new woman in his life. And wives who don’t understand the importance and significance a mother plays in her child’s life—forever—will compete for a relationship she can never replace.
In this situation, how would you react? Is it appropriate for the mother to sit in the back? Or is this a non issue?
