My son, Jack, has been spoiled, and no matter how hard my husband and I tried to enforce certain rules, he’d always find a way to break them.
But then, the weekend at my MIL’s happened and Jack returned almost a completely different child.
After dinner, he cleared the table without being asked. He then rinsed the dished before placing them inside the dishwasher.
His behavior was rather odd. He had never done anything like that, not without being forced to.
Moments later, he grabbed the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed the living room and then, unprompted, said no to his tablet before bedtime.
This was the first time he didn’t want to be on his tablet. Usually, whenever I said no to the device, he would throw tantrums and whine. But not this time—this time, he was the son every parent dreams of.
However, no matter how happy I was with the new behavior of my once spoiled son, I knew there was more to the change than he was willing to reveal.
That night, as I tucked Jack in bed, he told me not to worry because everything was going to be alright. When I asked what he meant with that, he just closed his eyes and said it was nothing. His words felt heavy, but I didn’t want to push him.
By Tuesday, the entire house was spotless. Everything was on its place. When I entered the bedroom, I spotted my son folding laundry. After he finished doing that, he spent only thirty minutes playing video games – a time limit I hadn’t enforced in months.
“Jack, you are doing an amazing job around the house, but I knew there is something you won’t reveal… did anything happen at grandma’s?” I asked, kneeling to his level.
Looking at me with scared eyes, he answered, “Kinda.”
“Like what?” I asked, trying to hide my nervousness.
“Mom, when they thought I was asleep, grandma and her boyfriend talked about you. They said you could be on your own soon, taking care of me and doing everything around the house.”
“Oh, Jack,” I said as I embraced my once spoiled son. “I won’t be on my own since I have both you and your dad by my side, so don’t you worry, everything is going to be just fine.”
“But mom, I don’t want you to break,” he said as he clutched to me.
“I won’t honey,” I assured him.
The truth was that I had no idea what my MIL was talking about. What did she mean when she said I’d be on my own. Feeling the urge to learn the truth, I drove to her place first thing in the morning.
When I entered the house, she was pouring herself coffee. “Oh, dear, welcome. What bring you here?”
I didn’t plan to beat around the bush and I confronted her right away, explaining that Jake changed drastically following the weekend spent at her place. I told her what my son had heard and I demanded an explanation.
“But… but I thought you knew,” she said, adding that Jack was never supposed to overhear her conversation.
“Know what?” I asked, raising my voice.
“Well, my son called me the other day. He told me he was offered a new position, but it was in Chicago. He hesitated whether to accept it because it meant leaving you and Jake for a longer period of time,” she said.
“Chicago!? But why didn’t he discuss that with me first? Since when has my husband started keeping secrets from me? And now my son thinks I’ll end up alone.”
I returned home and waited for my husband to return from work. Angry and feeling betrayed, I confronted him and asked him why he didn’t tell me about that job offer right away.
I told him about his mother, and how our spoiled son turned into a different child because he believed my husband would leave me.
“But honey, I didn’t say anything because I decided to reject the offer. I only told about it to my mother because you know how pushy she gets at times,” he explained.
I was still mad, but at least nothing serious was going on.
As of Jake, he continued helping around the house.
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Bored Daddy
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