To Top It All Off

My MIL came over for dinner. She's okay as a MIL. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Before we had kids, I liked her pretty well. After kids...well, let's just say that things haven't been as smooth.

Max was still in his room when she came over. I explained that he'd be out shortly and then he needed to get his chores done (reading homework, sorting the laundry, possession patrol and laying out his clothes for tomorrow).

Max came out, putzed around, semi-smarted off and generally didn't get going. Now. He needed to have this stuff done by dinner so he could go to t-ball right after dinner.

He got all pissed off at me for pointing out that he didn't have much time and should get cracking and went to pout in his room. I told him he had three minutes to get his clothes laid out and set the timer. Me doing so helps him get done with his chores and I wanted him to be able to go to t-ball. I really don't want to see him fail.

He finally gets going. I continue to set the timer and even put off dinner a bit (unbeknownst to him) so he had a chance. However, he bogged down a bit with the laundry and was goofing off. I mentioned to MIL that I wasn't sure he was going to be able to go to t-ball.

She said to me, "Nicki (I hate being called Nicki, by the way, so don't read that as an invitation), he's trying."

"He should have been trying when he had the time. Now he's probably going to miss t-ball."

She radiates disapproval. I explain to her how my day went. When I get to the physical violence part, she says, "Now that I don't approve of." Apparently everything else that he did was okay. And I should really just let him go to t-ball, done or not because now he was trying.

I did manage to get him through his stuff and he did get to go. However, we know that letting him go because he's trying at the last minute is a bad idea. It just encourages him to do the same thing the next time.