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My Mom thinks its acceptable to go everywhere dressed in nightgown. She fell last week and hurt her arm. lucky no cast no surgery she's 74 and a narcissist . Well she plans to wear her nightgowns for the next 4 to 6 weeks. She went to the drs office the drugs store etc in her nightgown and flip flops. This is un acceptable to me. she lives with me my son and my husband and they are VERY uncomfortable with this situation. she can change her jammies and underwear on make her coffee wash her dishes etc......everything but put some real clothes on ??? my mom LOVES SYMPOTHY and I KNOW that's what this is about but it has the OPPOSITE effect I don't have sympathy for her its just making me mad, because I never heard of anyone with a HURT arm staying in their jammies for a month and a half. Its making my husband even madder than me, He KNOWS she's doing it for attention and he's very uncomfortable in his own home. I told her this is un acceptable but she said she doesn't care. What else can I do to get her to put some clothes on ?????

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Another approach would be to tell her people will think she has dementia if she goes out like that. Scare her that she may wind up in a hospital with police/EMTs thinking she's losing her mental faculties and needs to be checked out. That's another way to go with it. Or appeal to her vanity, since she seems to have a lot of that.

As several of us have said, you need to get her out of your house ASAP. Hugs to you!
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Is she able to go out on her own? If so, let her go and don't go with her. If not, don't take her anywhere until she dresses. Offer to help, if she's truly having trouble. Also, your house, your rules. Tell her if she continues to live with you, she MUST be dressed in day clothes and not her pajamas. Otherwise, she stays in her room. That's the only ideas I have.

Good luck - it sounds like your hands are full with her. Does she have to live with you? I see a recipe for disaster down the road for your family. She sounds like a handful.
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Well! Since she refuses to get dressed, ignores everything you say and is perfectly capable of taking care of herself, you and your husband need to make this announcement together. Tell her that her strange, outlandish behavior is indicative of a mental disturbance, that what she's doing is totally inappropriate and will no longer be tolerated.

Say that since the only place you're allowed to wear nightgowns or pajamas all day is in a nursing home, that it is obvious to the two of you that a nursing home is where she needs to go. Say "You have ten minutes to put on your clothes and behave rationally or the two of you will immediately begin a search of nursing homes and you won't be put on a waiting list, that the first home you call that has a bed available is where you'll take her.

The threat of a nursing home ought to do it, but you have to mean it. She's being extremely disrespectful to the two of you and I'm sure it makes your son very uncomfortable to have her running around in her nightclothes. Wearing her nightclothes in public could get her picked up for indecent exposure.

Remind yourselves that she's not in charge, the two of you are. You need to remind yourself of this fact as you confront her. And by the way, it would be even more effective if you have a list of nursing homes to hand her when you have this discussion - with the ones you've chosen checked off.

Tell her she has ten minutes, no more to get dressed in street clothes and that wearing her nightclothes around the house during the day and to stores is absolutely forbidden "or else...".

Your mother-in-law is acting like a spoiled brat - show her there are negative consequences for her behavior. Good luck!
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Dusters are just as bad. If they're short ones, like the cute summer dusters for example. If she bends over, you'll all know what color underpants she has on.

If possible (through either cunning or deceit), switch to PJs. If she fell, it could be that PJs are safer. You're less likely to step on them when going up-and-down steps. You're less likely to get tangled in them.
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Go into her room and throw away all of her nightgowns. Buy her a half-dozen pretty dusters. She can sleep in them, and she'll be presentable outside the home. No flip-flops. Slip on shoes. "Sorry, mom. My house -- my rules."
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Muumuu, patio dresses and those Mexican embroidered shifts are all very comfortable and suitable for outdoor wear.
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Babalou she moved in with us after my dad died because she couldn't afford to live where they lived when he died. Shes on a waiting list for an apartment, she is capable of taking care of herself. Country mouse that's what I suggested was why cant you at least out on some sweatpants and she just dosent like them
( she owns them and wears them all the time normally ). This is PURELY for attention. I was already at my wits end before this happened.
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Have you had her see a psychiatrist? She certainly sounds mentally ill to me.
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No where in your description did you mention her physical appearance. From personal experience I know that people that tend to be heavy are sometimes uncomfortable in clothing and tend to wear PJ's, robes, etc. because they are loose fitting and comfortable. Sweats are a good idea and some can look very fashionable as casual wear. I also agree that something else may be going on upstairs. A visit to her Dr. with your concerns is warranted. If it is not mental, she is expressing her control mode and you and your husband need to let her know that is your home, your rules. Do not back down, if for no other reason, to save your own mental health. If she is eligible for a NH or ALF do not use that only as a hollow threat, follow through, as she will catch on and no behavior change will happen. When parents become dependent and mentally incapable, roles of parents and children reverse. Probably one of the hardest realities adult children have to accept and deal with. Some better than others.
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Give her the attention she deserves. Send all her pj's out to the laundry. Get her something else to wear, lay it out, dont be home when she gets out of the shower.
Escalate, if she is wandering the parking lot of the store in jammies and cannot find your car, maybe someone will call 911 for a welfare check up on her. Or, to save fire/ambulance from coming out, call 911(police) to find your mother who may be lost after you come back in about an hour, she may get mad enough to stop this behavior. OR, she can get the professional mental assessment she needs. Be brave, do this only as a last resort because something might really be wrong with her and it comes out only expressed as attention seeking.
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