Scared of leaving my daughter alone with mean granny

MY mother-in-law is quite a fearsome person and I do my best to avoid her as much as possible. She's patronising and it's obvious she's not keen on me and doesn't think I'm good enough for her son.

- Dear Coleen

She runs a party planning business and was short-staffed once, so I helped her out against my better judgment. It was awful. She was so mean to me and kept telling me off in front of the other staff and criticising me.

I can cope with what she throws at me, but she's also quite mean to our daughter, who's six. She's shown little interest in her since she was born and is always “too busy” to spend proper time with her.