A pregnant TikTok user explains why she doesn’t relay messages between her spouse and her in-laws.
Last week, Morgan Elisa Strickell posted a video on social media, detailing a conversation she had with her husband that had gone viral after she discussed it online.
“So, I refuse to be the primary communicator with my husband’s side of the family,” Strickell said, noting that she previously “got a lotta hate” regarding the issue.
According to the mom-to-be, the touchy topic came up again, so she was ready to rehash the issue.
“A few weeks ago, my mother-in-law was on the phone with us and she expressed that she was like, a little bit hurt because she keeps finding out things about our pregnancy from her sister who sees the posts on social media, ” Strickell explained.
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“Now this was kind of news to me because I thought my husband had been communicating with his mom and stepdad. “I didn’t know he hadn’t been,” she claimed.
Things took a turn when Strickell said she remembered her spouse the night before their ultrasound to remind his mother of the appointment “so that her feelings aren’t hurt.”
His response: “Why don’t you just send it to my mom?”
She shared that she declined his offer, informing him that it was not her responsibility — that she communicates with her side of her family, and he does the same with his.
Strickell then named her key points of her argument.
“Number one, I’m not his kin keeper. If he wants to maintain a relationship with the people in his life, and have them know information about our lives, that is 100 percent on him,” she said.
“Number two, I think this tends to fall on women’s shoulders because it’s either assumed that they have a larger social battery, or that they have more time — neither of those things are true in our relationship. “My husband has a much larger social battery than I do, and he also tends to have more free time, just ’cause I like to take on projects outside of work,” Strickell continued before making her last point.
“But third and final, not a single person would look at my husband as it was his responsibility if my mom was left out of the loop,” the TikToker claimed.
“If my mom doesn’t know what’s going on, I’m a bad daughter. If his mom doesn’t know what’s going on, I’m a bad daughter-in-law.”
Still, Strickell remained adamant that she and her spouse had a partnership that worked.
The following day, she shared an update saying that she and her husband “had a really good conversation” following her previous TikTok. Strickell also denied that the topic was an ongoing issue in her marriage.
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“Your boundaries and communication skills are so on point,” one person wrote in the comment section.
Another added, “Glad you’re addressing this now! With kids it continues to become overwhelming when you’re the default parent who has to communicate things like kids sports schedules, birthday celebrations.”
