AITA for stopping mid game strategizing?
My husband is a total mama’s boy. Most days I love that about him. Until it feels like he’s choosing her side over mine. She recently watched our dog the last month while my husband recovered from surgery. We were incredibly grateful and sent her money, dog food, dog supplies etc. It was still meaningfully cheaper than any other dog service and our dog loves her. My husband has finally recovered enough to split the dog share duties so we went and picked up the dog this weekend. While we were there, we decided to play a card game. My husband’s family can get incredibly competitive with games, so I often let his mom play with him and don’t interrupt as he’s explaining the game to her, notwithstanding that she’s played this game several times because she probably forgot some of the rules. This weekend, she was already complaining about playing with her husband, so I just affirmatively ceded my spot with my own husband and allowed her to play with her son. Before playing, we all agreed that advising on the rules was fine but that we couldn’t go above and beyond in terms of live strategizing. Throughout the game, my husband explained the rules, and his mother affirmed each time she understood them. It wasn’t until the last round where I took a risk and changed my strategy that things got tense. After everyone but his mother put down their cards - right after I put mine down - my husband inserted himself to explain how she should ruin my play. I interrupted to stop mid-game strategizing, which we had agreed to from the jump.
My husband felt as though I were being ungracious, and my MIL thought I was doing something unfair. I felt as though this was a step too far in that he was mid game advising against my interest above and beyond the ground rules. And it felt twice as annoying that he took the opportunity to provide a learning moment not between rounds but once I played my hand and she had yet to play hers. She of course gets upset. I and my FIL win. Her other son and my FIL agreed with the mid game interruption to stop the strategizing but she of course got upset. Afterwards we tried to play other games but she effectively refused and got up mid games to leave.
Later my husband felt as though I should’ve just allowed the mid game shenanigans because she watched our dog. For me, I felt as though he effectively created this antagonistic dynamic and discounted my graciousness in just ceding our team dynamics and letting him explain everything throughout the entire game. At the end of the day, I’m just sort of sick of feeling like her feelings are more protected or cared about than mine, and I’m honestly pretty pissed that my husband isn’t even the slightest bit self aware that he created the perfect storm only to blame me for the outcome. AITAH for stopping the mid game strategizing?