In a landmark case, a mother-in-law in Gloucestershire has reluctantly agreed in principle to give her daughter’s husband limited decision-making powers in the raising of his child.
Rona Matthews, a retired checkout operator, made the unprecedented concession following a dispute with her son-in-law Simon Williams – who is happily married to her daughter Jenny – concerning her granddaughter’s lunch.
The dispute occurred after Mrs Matthews “popped in” for the four hundred and eighty-first day in a row to make sure that Williams was coping while his wife was at work.
During the visit, Mrs Matthews insisted that her granddaughter was undernourished and should eat a banana, while Williams repeatedly indicated that his daughter was allergic to bananas.
After returning from hospital, the family held an emergency summit at which Mrs Matthews reluctantly agreed that her son-in-law should occasionally be able to decide what his daughter eats – though Mrs Matthews will retain a full veto over what the child wears and thinks.
“I’m absolutely delighted,” said Williams, a consultant paediatrician who has taken a five-year sabbatical to raise his child.
“It’s truly humbling to know that I am among the first sons-in-law to be recognised as not entirely – albeit still largely – useless.”
However, despite the historic nature of Mrs Matthews’ concession, legal experts warn that it is unlikely to have a significant positive effect on the conditions of the estimated 20 million sons-in-law in the UK today, who remain entirely useless in common law.