I love DW with all my heart. She’s a good woman to me and a wonderful mother to our two bios.

But for the life of me, I do not understand why, when it comes to SS, I feel there is an inhibitor switch in her brain that blocks off all logic and common sense that we would attribute to good parenting.

Yesterday was a perfect example of this.

Yesterday was a ped day. SS is normally at his Dad’s but SS said he had a project to work on with some friends. Well unless this project entailed binging on the PS3 all day, SS didn’t do an smidgen of school work. When challenge, all SS said was “I can’t get in touch with my friends”.

Anyways, yesterday DW and I decided to split our days in looking after the kids. BS and my niece are off school too so I looked after them in the morning. DW would come home for lunch to look after them in the afternoon. On the way home, she dropped by the supermarket and got us all some fresh meats and breads and cheese to make sandwiches.

DW laid everything out on the table. I helped BS and my niece make theirs and they were happily eating away.

Now my niece, unfortunately has horrible table manners. DW was on her like white on rice.

“Chew with your mouth closed!”
“Don’t rub your mouth with your sleeve!”
“Hey don’t leave the table. You are not finished yet!”

I rarely see DW like this. I pulled her aside at one point and said “Honey, you can’t yell at a kid for reading in the dark when the kid was never taught how to turn on the light.”

DW asked me what I meant and I told that the problem with my niece is that her parents (my brother and sister-in-law) don’t believe in family dinners. They let my niece eat whatever she wants, whenever she wants and don’t teach her proper table manners.

All this time, SS was still in his bedroom “working on his project”. We called him several times and tell him there is sandwiches for lunch. By the time Tall One decides to grace us with his bleary-eyed presence, we have all finished our meals (except for my niece). He looks at the table and it is obvious he is looking for a sandwich that is already made.

“What are we having?” SS asks.

“I told you!” DW says “We are having sandwiches!”

SS looks at the table as if he has just been presented with one of those 5000-piece 3-D jigsaw puzzles.

“I’m not hungry.” SS says and returns to his room.

DW doesn’t say a word.

DW then continues to chastise my niece for her poor eating habits and my niece is getting upset.

I am getting upset too.

“DW stop!” I said. “Instead of hounding my niece for poor eating habits, how about you hound SS for a change!”

DW looks at me with this look of utter shock. “What are you talking about?” She says. “SS doesn’t have poor eating habits.”

“He’s NOT. EVEN. EATING!” I say.

DW thinks about it. She gets up to fetch DW and says “I want you to eat something. Now come out and make yourself something to eat.”

SS comes back out and he is sulking. He goes to the pantry and fixes himself a bowl of cereal.

“Really SS!? Froot Loops?” I ask.

“What?” SS says

DW says its okay. She told him he could make anything he wants.

I just shake my head. “Enjoy your lunch of champions.” I said as I left for work.