Why can’t the kids just get along? I mean, they’re approaching middle age, for crying out loud. Isn’t it time to put their differences aside and band together as a family? I understand that Bernice thinks Brett is full of… well, cow pats. And of course, Brett has always felt that Bernice got more attention than him. I just wish they’d learn that being in a family isn’t about agreeing on things. It’s about accepting people as they are.
This whole drama with the clogged sink has really brought their ongoing feud to a head. It’s always the same story: Brett pulls some attention-seeking but harmless manoeuvre, and Bernice calls him out on it, which is fair, but perhaps she does it with an unwarranted degree of exasperation. Then the whole cycle starts again.
It’s true that Ken and I probably shouldn’t have gone along with Brett’s claims that goats’ milk is great for drain cleaning. Melbourne parents of adult children know how it is, though – sometimes you’ve got to let them be the expert, even when you know they’re wrong. It’s good for their self-confidence. But there’s a fine line between that and letting them walk all over your better judgement, and in this situation we clearly crossed that line.
In that respect, Bernice has a point, but Brett knows he went too far. There’s no need for her to push it; Brett immediately knew that he’d messed up and left the scene of the crime with his tail between his legs before he could make it any worse. But Bernice won’t let it be – she keeps going on and on about why he should pay for the drain repairs. Brighton plumbers don’t charge that much; we can afford to cover the damage ourselves. Brett barely has two coins to rub together, anyway.
Maybe we should hold him more accountable, and maybe we shouldn’t. I mean, Ken and I were responsible for our own actions with the milk. Besides, who knows when it comes to parenting?