My Father-In-Law Told My Daughter She Was “Stupid.” When I Confronted Him About It, He Did This

“What is wrong?” I asked my daughter when she came home, tears streaming down her face. “Grandpa Joe call– called m-me stupid,” she cried, and for a moment, I saw red Anger boiled inside me as I comforted her, knowing I couldn’t just let this slide. Determined to stand up for my daughter, I decided to confront my father-in-law about how his words hurt my daughter.

However, what he did next left me speechless...

Before I could leave to confront him, however, I needed to make sure that my daughter was okay. “Hey, sweetheart, I don’t think Grandpa knows what he is talking about. He hasn’t seen the A’s you have been bringing home,” I said, trying to console Emily in her saddened state. The poor girl was hiccuping through the tears, and it made me wonder if “stupid” had been the only crude thing he had said to her.  

She stopped her hiccuping, and I saw a very faint nod. “I-I to-told him a-about m-my A-A’s,” she stuttered, “Af-ter th-that he became m-mean.” I frowned at this, now feeling a new type of pressure to do something about this issue. We’ve had problems with Joe’s antics before, and today might just be the last strike.

I engulfed my little girl in a hug. Regardless of how fast she grew—she was already 16, for crying out loud—she would always be my little girl. I would protect her like a mother bear would her cub, and today was one of those days when I had to. Joe always had something to complain about—about me, about Wren, about the state of the world. That would stop today.

Joe had always been like this, sure, but it felt like he was attacking Wren for no reason other than that she was my daughter. When I went to marry my now husband, people always told me to be careful of mother-in-laws. Daisy, my mother-in-law, was an absolute dream. It was why I hadn’t seen Joe and his nasty behavior coming.

I wanted to rush off to their home, but I knew that I couldn’t let my emotions get the better of me in times like these. “It will be alright, darling. I will talk to Grandpa for you,” I told her, trying to keep the anger out of my voice. It proved near impossible, but it was the first step in reeling in my emotions. It gave me the ability to think clearly, as I knew just what to do with Grandpa Joe.