How to perpetuate mommy issues.

Of course, getting upset because her children don't do their chores in such a manner that won't somehow magically make Marian appear and chastise Elly for trying to usher in an era of chaos by folding towels in a different way isn't the only means by which Elly's exaggerated fear of her mother's worthless opinion let her screw up how she raised her children. Elly's fear of losing arguments because Marian couldn't be big enough to let her win one just once for the greater good because of a stupid, limiting theory of child-rearing and her own need to have someone she can shout down meant one thing: the constant escalation of minor differences of opinion into full-scale war.

It didn't matter what Mike or Liz or April might be saying to irritate Elly; the end result is always the same and was depicted in the opening sequence of the television series. At one point, they had spot art of Mike saying something to irk Elly only to have him taken aback by her rage-filled over-reaction to his not agreeing with her blinkered vision. The implication is that he deserved to be hollered at by a crazy woman because she never got to have the last word with that old biddy Marian. The end result is to have a group of children who cannot handle anything like conflict in the real world. Remember the war April thought she was fighting with Becky? It's actually the war Elly was having with Marian projected onto a new antagonist. I should think that as I type this, Meredith is letting a mild disagreement mutate into a pitched battle with a sitting duck antagonist because her insane grandmother can't handle differences of opinion. Meanwhile, Elly will be honestly confused by why her grandchildren are so thin-skinned.