oomis1105, you are not trying to understand from a different point of view.
You are talking from your experience where your mil loved and appreciated your call which made YOU FEEL SPECIAL TOO, but this seems to be a more serious issue because if the mil is comparing to her other dils, she will probably not be happy with “only a weekly call” because it seems she has some expectations.
I am talking from experience because I used to call my mil every week but she was not happy if I did not do _ AND _ AND_…
Yes,ideally the dil should make the mil happy and “just call”. However, this man’s mother MUST also change her outlook for this relationship to work because she is not looking at what the dil DOES but the mil is focusing on what the DIL DOES NOT DO!
In my experience, I call my mil’s mother=my husband’s grandmother every week. She loves for me to call her and is happy with anything I do because she understands that I work hard, have little children, so I can’t shlep all the time. While my mil is not happy with anything I do for her because she expects me to do everything. So too, in this case, the man’s mother must change her outlook otherwise she is setting herself up for disaster. Notice how she is putting her son in between her and his wife, which is essentially not recognizing his marriage.