MIGrandma
Lives in the middle-of-the-mitten.
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2009
We had a family get-together today at our son/daughter-in-law's house, so we could finally get the chance to meet our sweet new great-granddaughter. I was over-the-moon finally being able to hold her, she's such a tiny, sweet, precious little girl!! A wonderful and most welcomed new addition to our family.
But. We took our gift along to give the mom and dad (our grandson). I'd had such a good time shopping for the baby, and the mom kind of took the wind out of my sails.
I didn't know she doesn't like the color pink. When I had my daughter I loved dressing her in pink, frilly "girly girl" clothes, but when that same daughter had HER own daughter she did not enjoy the same thing, ha ha! She preferred dressing her in more modern things, in various colors like yellow, green, purple, etc. I never had a problem with that, and don't have a problem with my granddaughter-in-law not liking to dress HER baby in pink frilly things either. But good grief, she was just so vocal about NOT LIKING PINK! She said it out loud more than a couple times. The gift bag I put the gifts in was pink. It said, in big bold letters "Baby Girls ROCK." The words were white, except the word "ROCK" was in gold glitter and the handle of the bag was white ribbon and had a big white bow on the front. She didn't like the bag and made it known to everyone.
She didn't like the outfits I bought for the baby (4). Two sleepers, and two outfits, all mostly in shades of pink (a couple had white too, and one had little flowered pale green pants with a bunny on the behind). But I knew that might happen so I put copies of the sales slips inside the bag so she could easily exchange them, and told her up front that I didn't mind if she wanted to exchange them for something more to her liking, but for goodness sakes at least smile and say "thank you" and don't keep saying how you HATE PINK!!
I gave them 4 packages of diapers. She didn't say a word about them. Actually threw them on the floor as she took them out of the bag. Wouldn't most people say "oh, we can really use these" or something like that?
I gave them a BIG package of baby wipes. She said "the changing table is FULL of wipes! Where am I going to put THESE now?"
I gave them a package of wrist rattles and a package of little toys that attach to the car seat. She just looked at them and didn't say a word.
The ONLY thing she remotely liked was the very soft, PINK teddy bear that I left peeking out of the top of the bag.
She said "oh it's so soft! I can overlook that it's PINK!"
She even complained about the TISSUE PAPER I used with the gift bag (alternating pink, and gold with white polka dots).
She never once said "thank you" for anything. At least my grandson had the decency to tell us "thank you."
I was raised that even if you DON'T like a gift, you smile and say "thank you" for it and ACT like you appreciate it. I just wanted to tell her "fine, if you don't like ANY of it I can just take it back and get MY money back!!"
Maybe, as a child, she wasn't taught by her own parents to show appreciation for a gift that's given to you, but good grief, she's an adult now. Wouldn't common sense tell you to ACT like you appreciate it, even if you DON'T like it? Sigh.
But. We took our gift along to give the mom and dad (our grandson). I'd had such a good time shopping for the baby, and the mom kind of took the wind out of my sails.
I didn't know she doesn't like the color pink. When I had my daughter I loved dressing her in pink, frilly "girly girl" clothes, but when that same daughter had HER own daughter she did not enjoy the same thing, ha ha! She preferred dressing her in more modern things, in various colors like yellow, green, purple, etc. I never had a problem with that, and don't have a problem with my granddaughter-in-law not liking to dress HER baby in pink frilly things either. But good grief, she was just so vocal about NOT LIKING PINK! She said it out loud more than a couple times. The gift bag I put the gifts in was pink. It said, in big bold letters "Baby Girls ROCK." The words were white, except the word "ROCK" was in gold glitter and the handle of the bag was white ribbon and had a big white bow on the front. She didn't like the bag and made it known to everyone.
She didn't like the outfits I bought for the baby (4). Two sleepers, and two outfits, all mostly in shades of pink (a couple had white too, and one had little flowered pale green pants with a bunny on the behind). But I knew that might happen so I put copies of the sales slips inside the bag so she could easily exchange them, and told her up front that I didn't mind if she wanted to exchange them for something more to her liking, but for goodness sakes at least smile and say "thank you" and don't keep saying how you HATE PINK!!
I gave them 4 packages of diapers. She didn't say a word about them. Actually threw them on the floor as she took them out of the bag. Wouldn't most people say "oh, we can really use these" or something like that?
I gave them a BIG package of baby wipes. She said "the changing table is FULL of wipes! Where am I going to put THESE now?"
I gave them a package of wrist rattles and a package of little toys that attach to the car seat. She just looked at them and didn't say a word.
The ONLY thing she remotely liked was the very soft, PINK teddy bear that I left peeking out of the top of the bag.
She said "oh it's so soft! I can overlook that it's PINK!"She even complained about the TISSUE PAPER I used with the gift bag (alternating pink, and gold with white polka dots).
She never once said "thank you" for anything. At least my grandson had the decency to tell us "thank you."
I was raised that even if you DON'T like a gift, you smile and say "thank you" for it and ACT like you appreciate it. I just wanted to tell her "fine, if you don't like ANY of it I can just take it back and get MY money back!!"
Maybe, as a child, she wasn't taught by her own parents to show appreciation for a gift that's given to you, but good grief, she's an adult now. Wouldn't common sense tell you to ACT like you appreciate it, even if you DON'T like it? Sigh.
Terrible manners, we all agree, but is this behaviour generally like her? It sounds like a complete over-reaction that would have embarrassed everybody in the room. Is she totally stressed-out and miserable since the baby? Hormonal and possibly depressed post-partum? I'd really be concerned about one of my family members if they were acting like this and it was out of character. Most normal, healthy people can at least put on a game face for Grandma. 
