My mother wants us indoors till three months. I'd like ten minutes in the society garden

gentle_chai_259230 Aug 2026

Our son is a month old. My mother is staying with us and is firm that he shouldn't leave the flat until he is three months. Her reasons shift between infections, the rain, and people's eyes. I'm not asking to take him to a mall. I would like to sit in our society garden early in the morning for ten minutes, for my own sanity as much as his. My partner has decided to stay well out of it, so it is the two of us. How did others handle this? I would rather understand what the real concern is than win an argument.

4 comments

maple_trail_72730 Aug 2026
We went through this not long ago with our daughter, and with our son years before that, so we had the advantage of practice. What worked for us was asking our paediatrician in front of the grandparents at the next visit. The answer we got was about avoiding crowds and sick visitors, not about air. After that, early mornings in the garden when nobody was around were accepted.
sunny_spoon_209830 Aug 2026
Balcony first. Then garden. Took us two weeks of negotiation 😂
pebble_sandal_572130 Aug 2026
My mother-in-law was exactly like this. What helped was that I stopped arguing and just went down at 6.30 am with my partner, when nobody else was around. She complained for two days and then started asking how the garden was.
basil_compass_153930 Aug 2026
Which of the three reasons is the real one? Infection, rain and evil eye each have a different answer. Find out which one worries her and deal with that. The rest is cover.
- gentle_chai_259231 Aug 2026
  That's a useful way to put it. I asked her this morning and, after some back and forth, it is infection. Someone in our block had a fever last week and she heard about it. We have agreed on the balcony for now, and the garden once that has passed, at an hour when nobody is down.