3 months for your father-in-law to like you!

Posted by Danielle Harvey on 5 August 2022

two men in a vineyard drinking wine and laughing A new survey, conducted by greetings card marketplace, thortful.com, has revealed the time it takes father-in-laws to approve of their son/daughter's partner, revealing that the average amount of time is three months. The study quizzed 1,000 father-in-laws across the UK on how long it takes for them to approve of their son-in-law, as well as the attributes that are most important to them.

man and woman walking arm and arm outside It was found that a quarter of father-in-laws (25%) said they actually approved of their son/daughter partner from the first moment they met them, with just less than one in 10 (9%) taking 7 months or longer to approve.

The survey also went on to reveal that almost two-fifths (37%) said that they are happy with who their son/daughter is in a relationship with. More than one in 10 (11%) went on to say that they don't believe their son/daughter needs their dad's approval on their partners, with it completely being their choice.

On the other hand, almost one in five (19%) said they would tell their child if they didn't like their partner, and 16% said they have actually told their child in the past if they haven't approved of who they are with.

The top ways to win over your father-in-law:

Show respect to my family (24%)
To be family orientated (24%)
Take the time to build a relationship with me (18%)
Be there during tough times (17%)

two men laughing when looking at a phone

Show desire to learn more about my child (15%)
Looking at some of the other important factors, 8% said that their potential son-in-law should laugh at their jokes, spend lots of money on their child (8%) and go to the pub with them (7%).

When asked when their childs partner/spouse should avoid doing in order to the get their seal of approval, the top answers from the dads surveyed were:

Being disrespectful (26%)
Have a bad attitude (22%)
Being fake-nice (19%)
Forgetting manners (15%)
Being a know-it-all (14%)
Not speaking to our family (14%)
Some of the other attributes that are best avoided were, getting drunk (13%), swearing in front of them (13%), and having sex in the family home (10%).

More information on the study can be found here: thortful.com