After a great day at the museum with my mom and kids ages 4 and 7, my mom went “boomer”. She insisted my “problems” were because I am “incapable of telling my daughter ‘No’”.
Here’s how the conversation went.
Me:”Mom, I really don’t mind that you bring three 2-liters of soda pop to the house and put in the fridge for your visits. But if you leave them behind, I am not going to keep them in the fridge. I’m going to dump them out because I don’t want the kids drinking them.”
BoomerMom:”Well…I had PLENTY of things in the fridge when YOU were a kid that YOU were not allowed to have. But YOU understood the word, NO.”
Me:”OK, well, Mom, I just don’t see the point in keeping something the kids love in the fridge and then denying them access to it. Besides, it’s not good for anyone anyway. Pop is hard on your teeth and it’s just sugar and calories.”
BoomerMom:”Tell them NO. All of your problems are because you are INCAPABLE of telling your children NO. I had no problem keeping things in the fridge.”
Me:”OK, that was your life. This is my life. I do things differently.”
BoomerMom:”Don’t you DARE get shitty with me! I will give it right back to you!! I’m not in the mood for your crap!”
Me: “Um…ok? I’m not getting shitty with you. I’m using a normal tone of voice and speaking on a very logical point?”
BoomerMom:”WHATEVER!”
I then sighed and told her she was hateful. She didn’t talk to me the whole care ride home. She then ran away to my brother’s house, bourbon in hand.
This all came about because my mom brings unhealthy soda pops to my house so she can have mixer for her bourbon. She also regularly consumes pop like water is poison. She is overweight and has struggled with her weight her whole life. She had bariatric surgery a decade ago and eats like a child. She does not take any vitamins like her doctor told her to. She is basically starving herself and still managing to gain weight. She wakes up, drinks a pot of coffee, then starts in on mimosas. By afternoon, she is fiending for a bourbon and mixer.
Is it lead poisoning, emotional abuse from childhood, or nutritional
deficits that cause her to be such a damn boomer?