Offer my advice?

[mocha09]

Any of my single mama sisters want to read my long-winded thread in Pesonal growth about my poor performance this weekend while my mother and aunts were in town?

It's enormously long.....

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=140973

I'd really like some feedback on what I could have done differently and how I should help pick up the pieces in the meantime.

[brusselsprout]

Should I post here or in the other forum? Well, since I am here....

first I am so sorry. I can see myself reacting very much the same way you did. Honestly I would probably call my mom in this situation, explain to her (again) everything that I am doing and going through (school, work, being there for the kid(s), dealing with doing it all alone, etc) and really stress to her that I am on overload right now. I usually leave it to my mom to pass on my apologies and explainations when I have got stressed and pissy.

Then, since mom complained about the lack of food (now see this is where I give her a taste of my life) I would draw up a shopping list and a map to the closest grocery store, tell her that I know she wants to be helpful, and I know she understands that I have alot to get done if we are going to have some quality time together, and send her off with the kid(s) to do the grocery shopping while I got some homework done.

I would also do my best to keep the visits to a shorter period of time...2-3 hours or whatever I know I can handle....

How much longer is your mum and sisters going to be in town? Sending you positive "get thru this" vibes!

[mocha09]

Thank you Brussel, and fishy for posting on the other board.

I cleared things up with my mom this afternoon and we spent some time together.

I still have to apologize to my aunts. I think I'm going to send them all a card and say sorry for being such a jerk.

[Holland73]

I was just home for the first time about 2 months ago and was so overwhelmed by the people, noise, etc. For so long, ds and I had been living in this quiet existence in our own quiet home without the TV on all day long, like it is at my parent's house. I had to constantly take ds out of the house for a walk, just to maintain my sanity and to not commit "hari-kari". But, after a week, I started to adjust...but, if you do not have a week to adjust, then you need to handle the situation differently, somehow.

Shorter visits, less people at one time, these are very justified "conditions". I also did this when I was home, because everyone was so anxious to meet ds, but he was really getting overwhelmed and frightened, so I started to set conditions. Do these for yourself, also!

I really like Brussel's idea about sending your mom to the grocery store...that is a great way to handle that situation.