6 Things To Avoid When You Meet His Parents

From what to wear to what to say, or not say, Simran Ahuja helps you ace the first meeting with your partner's folks

- Simran Ahuja

All relationships are marked by important milestones; ‘relationship firsts’ as some may call them—first kiss, first fight, first anniversary and, of course, the dreaded first meeting with your partner’s parents. You know that scene in Meet The Parents, or rather half the film, where Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is trying his best to impress girlfriend Pam Byrnes’s (Teri Polo) family and only ends up making things worse? Yeah, no one wants to go through that in real life. Yikes.

But you know things are getting serious if your partner is telling his parents why he’s always sporting a goofy smile and pink cheeks. Are you breaking out into a sweat just thinking of it? We don’t mean to stress you out, but your first meeting with the ’rents could set the tone for the rest of your life. Which is why we asked around and got women to tell us their worst first meeting encounters, so you could avoid them.

“I met with an ex recently. We didn’t end on bad terms, and are happy in our own individual relationships now. But we got to reminiscing about the good old days and ended up on the topic of our parents. Turns out, his mom was quite happy when we broke up because she never liked me in the first place. I was surprised to hear this; I asked him why. He tried dodging the topic a lot but eventually told me that apparently, the fact that I didn’t bring a gift the first time I met his parents earned me some bad, bad karma with his mother!”

—Arushi P, 28, photographer

AVOID IT