When Ben volunteered his wife to watch his sister’s kids for two weeks—without asking her—things were already off to a rocky start. But when his mother, Carol, moved in under the guise of “helping,” only to sit back and criticize, the pressure really began to mount.
Ben’s wife, who was juggling child care, cooking, cleaning, and a growing sleep deficit, was doing her best to hold the household together. But on the third day, Ben made a fatal mistake: he criticized her cooking. “Maybe you could spice things up with fancier meals,” he said, referring to the homemade spaghetti she had managed to put on the table.