“Now your daughter is ours.” – the most common phrase that many parents must have heard as they get their daughters married. It is quite heart-breaking how complete strangers declare their right over your daughter, whom you have raised for almost 2 decades! How they feel it is okay to tell the parents – who strived so hard; who worked late hours and stood by their daughters since the day they were born – that their daughter is theirs now!
The Reality Behind The Claim – Your Daughter Is Ours Now
But, that’s not the only concern I have. It is quite heart-breaking how spineless in-laws may promise you to treat your daughters as their own, but in the end, the same people leave no chance to shatter her; to break her; to hurt her! While they call our daughters their daughters, but for them, our daughters are nothing more than maids, cooks, nannies, caretakers or sometimes, doormats or punching bags on which they take out their frustrations!
But, though they hardly treat their daughters’-in-law as daughters, they will tell you how they are progressive and their daughter-in-law is no less than their own daughter. While they treat their own daughters as queens, they treat ours as maids and cooks. They have different rules for their daughters and our daughters.
Asking Our Daughters To Forget Their Own Parents Because She Has New Ones Now
What breaks my heart the most is the fact how they tend to stop our daughters from meeting us. They would tell them that their husband’s house is theirs now; they need to forget their parents and treat their husband and in-laws as their priority. But, when it comes to their sons, they refuse to let go! They want our daughters to treat them as their parents, but they don’t want their sons to treat us as his parents too! They will make sure to shame, blame and insult if they find their son being too supportive of his wife and his in-laws.
Wanting Our Daughters To Treat Them Like Their Parents But Their Sons Can’t Treat Us Theirs
So, basically, these hypocritical in-laws want our daughters to treat them as their parents; but don’t want their sons to treat us as their parents! They want their sons to treat them with more importance than their wives too! How much selfish and self-centred one could be?
Indian Marriage – The Unequal Partnership
Indian marriages are not equal partnerships. It’s the partnership in which the girl and her parents keep giving and sacrificing while the groom and his parents keep taking. And, there is no end to this vicious cycle. This inequality is the reason why so many parents are disappointed with the birth of a girl child.
From changing surname to home to parents to family, our daughters give up so much for the marriage. While our daughters sacrifice their old relationships, our men life continue to be as fancy as it was before the wedding.
Dear Hypocrite in-laws, it’s time to break the inequality in marriage. After marriage, if our daughters are going to be your daughters, let your son be ours too. Our kids can get four parents, whom they can love and respect equally!
