Friday, Apr. 06, 2018 - 10:44 a.m.

Mom came back over yesterday for the first time after we got into that argument last week. We got along ok.

Before she came over she asked me to talk to U, because she feels like he hates her. “He doesn’t like to be directed or feel controlled”, I told her. I mean, she just wants me to say something that will change how he feels rather than look at her own behavior to see how what she is doing is affecting their relationship.

Anyway, yesterday he was doing math with her. He likes to make up his own math, which we view as a way of playing and learning. But he writes his numbers backwards a lot. So she starts correcting him about how he has written the numbers. She won’t leave it alone. She writes it the right way and calls him over to look. She says “what are you, dyslexic?” and makes a dismissive statement about the math not mattering if he can’t be bothered to write it correctly.

So, here we are again, me starting to feel really angry that she’s overlooking his talent and passion to fixate on a surface-level feature. And also, seriously if she doesn’t lay off he we make it a point to NEVER write things any other way. I told her this. “By making an issue of it you are guaranteeing that he will never in his entire life write it correctly.”

“He’s just like you”, she says. And gives me this “haha now you see how it is” look as if she had just insulted me.

“Yes, he is, so maybe you should listen to me when I tell you what he is thinking and that what you’re doing is not helpful.”

How am I not supposed to argue with her? Seriously, she is not only hurting a relationship that is important to her, but sabotaging my homeschooling.

�