5 Tips To Help Create The Right Impression On Your Inlaws

Generally, nobody wants to goof especially when it comes to meeting your prospective in-laws. You want to be mindful not to create a tense atmosphere or make a nuisance out of yourself for inappropriate comment or behavior.Thing is most of us would have loved to avoid it but it is something one cant ignore for too long. 

Yorubas say in-laws are idols and should be treated that way. This makes it really important to make the right impressions when meeting one’s in-laws. The way they perceive you might reflect on your relationship and it just really helps when everyone is happy. Meeting them can be likened to taking a job interview, you have to go armed with your A game.

Being prepared is the key to making the right impression and the tips shared below can help you.

Ask your partner for guidelines: Let your partner spill on the personalities of the members of the house so you will be prepared on what jokes are right and the ones that might be perceived as downright insensitive. Your partner grew up within the family and should be able to guide you on the dos and don’ts. You can do well with tips like ‘daddy loves golf’ so any discussion about golf would interest him. Or mummy loves reading so so magazine, so you can show up bearing a fresh issue.You need to just arm yourself with the basics just to keep the conversation flow and to make the mood light.

Carefully pick what you wear. You don’t want the first meeting to turn out really awkward so you might have to keep all your revolutionary fashion forward outfits for other occasions. If your partner comes from a really conservative family, you don’t want to shock then out of their skin and have them reciting the Lord’s Prayer endlessly. All you need do is to keep it simple and decent. The way you dress says a lot about you. You don’t want to lose their attention even before you get it.

Don’t go empty handed: It is not courteous to go on a first visit to anyone's house without bearing any kind of gift. It need not be extravagant. Save all that for the bride price. You could go with a bottle of wine or box of fruits.If there are kids in the house, you could buy chocolates, sweets, biscuits or whatever. Just don't go empty handed. It is not about the gift, it is the thought behind it that counts. It is also a sign of goodwill.

Be Yourself: It is understandable that you are trying to make a great impression but you need not sugarcoat the details about yourself. Much as you want to create an impression, you also want to gain their trust. You don’t want a supposedly ‘necessary lie’ to catch up with you. You also do not want to be perceived as fake. It is alright to be slightly uncomfortable, just keep it as plain and cool as it can be.

Take deep breaths. Come on, your in-laws are like family too, if you don’t get it right with them the first time, you can correct the impression at some other time. You will be fine.

Enjoy your week.