Yeah, Sox, I would tell your mother in very clear terms that email replies from the kid will come when the kid is ready. And you might add that if it becomes a chore or an obligation, she might not want to do it anymore at all.

Thanks you guys. It helps to hear I'm not alone in my thinking. She's super-dissatisfied with everything right now and I'm trying to set boundaries. Which is making things worse.

Buffistas parents, I have a question-- we went to the Spiderman movie last night with a friend and her two sons. One is 11 and one 16. After the movie, the 16-year-old and I liked the film. The 11-year-old announced it was "the worst movie he had ever seen." His brother then said "That's because you're 11." The younger became furious and started punching his big brother and his mom put a stop to that. He then stalked off, announcing first that he was entitled to his opinion and that his brother was lucky he didn't punch him in the nose and then that he wanted to be alone. He walked way far ahead of us all the way down the sidewalk in an epic flounce, although he did manage to choke out a "goodnight" when asked to by his mom. He was clearly really angry.

The DH felt that this was way too upset for an 11-year-old and that he might have a problem, but I seem to recall myself and my brothers getting that upset. Does this seem in the normal range to you?

Seems a little melodramatic for 11, but every kid is different. He might have been humiliated by his brother belittling his opinion because of his age, too, and embarrassed because Other People witnessed it. But the flouncing and hitting still seems melodramatic to me.

Melodramatic for sure but I wouldn't automatically jump to overly so. My kids have had epic flounces and they are ok for the most part.

Not trying to be provocative, but what do you think about hysterical as a word?

Hm. Good question. Depends on the context? I think I'm fine with it if people mean "that was so funny" but if there's any shade of "female hysteria" about it, I would go on alert and tell someone to back that truck up.

My SIL is complaining that the 11year old is acting like a 13 year old 3 year old. So.

It also depends on what kind of skirmishes the siblings had earlier. My brother and I were truly evil to each other over simmering grudges at times.

COSMOS Sisters of the Sun made me cry. I appreciated the sly snarks at sexism. I even more appreciated them putting those womens' names out there.

Sox, your mother needs boundaries, or I'd make sure the emails go through you first. Trust issues.

Instead of lame, I'd usually say stupid.

Cookies cooling on the rack!

I agree with sarameg that the epic flounce could have easily been building from something that happened between them earlier. Melodramatic, sure, but plenty of kids have melodrama coming out of their bottom.

Sox, that's a whole lotta WTF. Was HPF upset at all by the "where's your next email" message?

I had a regular correspondence with my Aunt Haruko and loved it. But she (nor anyone else) ever pressured me. I'm sorry, Sox... that's a lot to deal with.

Grace has surgery tomorrow at 7:30 AM. She may be tracheless after the surgery. I certainly hope so. But it's sort of agonizing to wait. Usually the OR is scheduled for an hour for her surgeries and they take less than that. This time, they're scheduled for 90 minutes.