06 January 2024 , 15:17
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Surprised by a gift over Christmas, one woman shared a picture of her mother-in-law’s present to “help,” with her three-year-old twins.
The present in question was a wind-up timer that came with a set of instructions written on the back of the packaging. Curious about what the intention behind such a gift could be the mum shared a photo of the Christmas present online.
The response to the present and the "intentionality" behind it made some people see red, with those commenting online not holding back. Some people with strong opinions even told the mum she should have set a timer for five minutes before kicking her mother-in-law out whilst others labelled the "gift" to be "passive-aggressive," however one person did say the gift could be useful in helpful to establishing a bedtime routine.
Mum questions the intentions of her mother-in-law who gifted her a timer (REDDIT)Sharing her post in Reddit’s Mildly Infuritating section, the mum’s post has almost 1,000 comments to date even though it’s now been deleted from the site.
In her post, she wrote: “For Christmas this year my mother-in-law gifted us this kitchen timer with a set of rules to live by. My husband and I both work long hours, he travels for work often, and we have three-year-old twins.
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“Our three-year-olds are typical toddlers. Tantrums galore. And the state of our house is cluttered and messy.
“I guess this is my mother-in-law’s cute and funny way of ‘helping’ us.”
Written onto the back of the timer the mother-in-law had included a suggested timetable to follow throughout the day, from morning to bedtime.
This included setting the timer for the twins to get dressed, eat and leave the house. After that, there were instructions for a “10 min clean up.” Another timer suggestion included a time for bedtime and brushing teeth.
The mum-in-law also suggested another countdown for the laundry being done and the next load going in. Finally, she wrote: “Set a timer for tablet or phone play - limit this act.”
People on Reddit were blown away, one person said: “Set it for five minutes and tell her that's how long she's got to get her crap together and get out of your house.”
Another person labelled the entire charade as “passive-aggressive,” adding: “Nothing cute about this! I agree with one of the previous comments. This is so passive-aggressive. Even if she is helping in some capacity, your home, your rules.”
A third commented: “I don’t like seeing this for you at all… I would have set the timer and told her to be out of here by the time it rings.”
However, one reasoned: “I know a couple who has used timers as part of a bedtime routine with their little ones with great success.”
What do you think? Was the gift passive-aggressive?
'I don't want children staying up late at weekends - I really need adult time'