I was kind of thinking along these same lines. There is a book out there about love languages by Gary Chapamn. I've read the book, and the funny thing is, I still don't know what my "love language" is, but I can spot others. For an example, my DIL is an excellent gift giver. She really pays attention to what people like, and her gifts reflect that. It is her love language. Maybe you need to find out what you MIL's love language is:
Words of Affirmation
Quality Time
Receiving Gifts
Acts of Service
or
Physical Touch
Originally Posted by rslindiana
It may be that she wants a SPECIFIC interaction (Compliments? Invitations? Accepting/seeking advise? Respect for life choices?) from you and without that then she is not sure that you like her - in the way that she wants to be or is comfortable that she is 'liked'.
Family is culture and the probability is that your method of communicating that you care is a mis-match with her expectations of how people who 'like' each other interact. I'm pragmatic and blunt - not affectionate or demonstrative and often I have a difficult time 'communicating' with the gentler kinder people in my life.