In last night’s episode of Real Housewives of New Jersey, Teresa Giudice‘s ten-year-old daughter Gia threw a tantrum (Milania’s not the only Giudice girl who can make a scene).
Now Caroline Manzo and Jacqueline Laurita are defending their attempt to diffuse the situation, after Teresa criticized them, saying they should have left the parenting to the parent.
“Field day was a blast. See? Miracles happen. Everyone got along and really enjoyed the day. Almost…” Caroline writes in her Bravo blog. “Gia was unhappy that her team lost the tug of war. She thought her Uncle Joe was cheating and she voiced her opinion to everyone. I was upstairs in the kitchen cooking when I heard voices from the basement and it sounded like someone crying. I went downstairs…and tried to explain to Gia that her mom and uncle were having a great time.”
Caroline says that things did not get confrontational until Gia blatantly disregarded her as an adult authority figure.
“I never once reprimanded her for her behavior until she became disrespectful towards me directly,” Caroline continued. ‘I don’t care whose child you are or how upset you are; you do not look an adult in the face and tell them to be quiet, mind their business, and get out of the room. Especially when they are not antagonizing you. It was then I told Gia to look at me and show some respect. I would expect nothing less from any other adult if it were my child back in the day–respect is paramount in my book.”
Speaking of books, Jacqueline at one point pulled out a book to read to Gia about “Being a Bad Sport.” Jacqueline claims that her intention wasn’t to antagonize Gia or make the situation worse.
“I apologized many times for overstepping my boundaries on that one,” Jacqueline tweeted during the episode. “I felt horrible. I just wanted her to snap out of it and join us.”
As for Teresa accusing them of being unkind by not fetching her when Gia was asking for her, Caroline and Jacqueline both went on the all-caps defensive.
“WE didn’t get her Mom because she was filming outside,” Jacqueline tweeted.
“I DID call for Teresa,” Caroline tweeted.
Caroline not only takes issue with Gia’s behavior as a reflection on Teresa’s parenting, but she also didn’t appreciate Teresa reprimanding her and Jacqueline.
“Teresa challenging Jacqueline and myself in front of Gia was wrong,” Caroline wrote in her blog. “First of all, she wasn’t in the room, she didn’t know what happened. IF she had a problem with either of us, she should have pulled us aside and spoke to us in private and discussed the situation before berating us in front of Gia. That’s just my thought on it, we all parent differently, and that’s what makes the world go round.”
Jacqueline, on the the other hand, had less than kind words to leave with Teresa after seeing Teresa’s confessional, in which Teresa questioned Jacqueline’s parenting skills with her daughter Ashlee, whom viewers have watched being “rebellious” over the last three seasons.
“And her kids aren’t rebellious at all, huh?” she tweeted.
Gina Pusateri
Contributing Writer
(Image courtesy of Bravo)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
