Do you always tell the truth,the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

I try to be honest all the time, but there are certain people that I can't be completely honest with when they ask me something or they will get mad at me.

Okay, I need to be completely honest with you. If there is someone in your life that you can not be completely honest with, then you don't need them in your life. If they get mad at you for your honesty, this is called manipulation and no one should stand for this. You can not give up your right to be honest for anyone. If you do, that is your choice and you can not blame anyone, but yourself.

Thanks, you are right I think that I should be able to be completely honest with a person if they ask me my opinion or question me about my motives. I agree with you about not needing someone in my life that I can't be completely honest with. As far as a Mother-in-law it's hard to avoid but not that hard because we live at a distance and I want to be a good daughter-in-law to her because I love my husband so I want to be nice to his mom. She asks me questions sometimes and when I tell her the truth she gets mad at anyone who does not agree with her. Most of the time I will tell her I don't know because I don't want to get into it with her.She has a history of nervous breakdowns,so I have to understand that she is not always thinking clearly. I just want to keep peace.Sometimes I will tell her how I feel about things because that's just me. I don't argue I just tell her like it is and leave it at that.

I believe that she truely loves her Grandchildren,but I don't really feel comfortable leaving them along with her for an extended time. I would like to be able to trust her but I have not told her why I don't trust her because I want to keep peace. I think eventually I'm going to have to tell her the truth so that she will stop asking me why not leave them with her for a week. My reasons are that she does not establish a bedtime for the children. She will stay up all night long and the kids can stay up all night until they fall out in the floor. I think that's rediculous. She also has had nervous breakdowns in the past and I am afraid that she might have an episode when I'm gone. She does not cook nutritious meals she feeds her other grandchildren junk food all the time and I am particular about things like that. My husband trusts her because it's his Mom and I want to be able to trust her too but I don't although she means well in her own way. As far as my friends I tell them the truth about things. I feel comfortable telling them my real opinion. I just have one friend who think she's always right and I can't really be real with her because she gets upset when I disagree with her.

Yes, it appears that you need to tell you mother-in-law what you feel, as you say it wouldn't be right for her to have an episode when she supposed to be looking after you children. I never give advice on friendships, but I can share that I had a similar friend who stopped being my friend by I asserted my reality and he walked away and that's the last contact I had with him. I could see the anger well up because I wouldn't agree with his opinion. I feel friendship is about accepting each other's reality, not "screaming" because I would not swallow his. :-)

I know what you are saying. I'm just trying to avoid conflicts since it's family. I don't have to see her but a couple of times a year so I really want to be able to get along with her and I don't want my children to see their grandma get all upset.

Well when I was in school I use to work in a retail store and I use to get commissions for every sale. My customers use to always ask me how something looked on them. Some would say do I look fat in this. I would not just say yeah you look fat in this outfit. I would say that outfit really does not bring out your good qualities and then I would show them an outfit that would make the good qualities stand out. Some of my customers really needed good true advice. I did not want them leaving the store wearing something looking crazy and say I said that looked good. My goal was to see to it that everyone walked out that store looking their best.

I think that it's good to be able to speak your mind and give upfront answers.