Meeting His Mother For the First Time?: How To Make A Great Impression
Manners
Use them. Say, “please” and “thank you.” Don’t curse in front of her, even if she does. Don’t say things like, “girrrrrl” or treat her like she’s one of your girlfriends. She’s not your friend…yet. Be respectful, find out BEFOREHAND how she likes to be addressed (especially if she’s divorced), and don’t text excessively or share bodily functions with her. I understand that you may think you’re grown and can do whatever you want, but not making use of your manners and being disrespectful may get you the boot. Some men and women have forgotten how to use their manners, so just think how pleasantly pleased his mother will be when she discovers her son has chosen a woman who actually knows how to behave.
Drinking
Don’t do it – before or during your first meeting. If you’re meeting her at a restaurant or for Thanksgiving dinner, and she offers you a glass of wine, decline, unless you’re ABSOLUTELY sure you can handle yourself – and stop at one. She could be testing you, and even though she may drink, you don’t want to give her any reason to pass judgment on YOU. Same goes for smoking. Don’t do it. Chew some Nicorette before going to meet her so that you get your nicotine fix, but don’t smoke that day if you can help it so that you don’t reek of smoke. By the way, smoking is bad for you – just wanted to throw that out there.
Conversation
Under no circumstances should you debate, argue, or gossip with his mother. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be engaging or have opinions about anything, but your conversation shouldn’t be combative or argumentative. If you’ve done your research and asked questions about her beforehand, you should be able to pick a topic that interests her and discuss that. Does she like to go to movies, knit, jog? What does she do for a living? Get her to talk about herself so that you get to know her better, and answer her questions honestly, but briefly. Stay away from polarizing topics like politics or religion – and if for any reason you two find yourselves disagreeing about something, drop it. Tell her that you respect her opinion and quickly change the subject – talk about something else.
