There are many tense co-parenting relationships within the world of Teen Mom.
But Ryan Edwards and Maci Bookout are currently strong contenders for the title of most dysfunctional of them all!
Currently, Ryan is not allowed to see Bentley, the 11-year-old son he shares with Maci.
As a result of that development, Ryan’s parents, Jen and Larry Edwards, haven’t seen Bentley in quite some time themselves.
And it looks as though they’re becoming quite fed up with the current arrangement.
On this week’s episode of Teen Mom OG, Jen and Larry complained about the situation.
And even though Maci got a restraining order against Ryan after he threatened to shoot her husband in the head, it seems that Jen and Larry feel that Bookout is 100 percent to blame for their estrangement from their grandson.
“We haven’t seen him in over a month,” Larry said during Tuesday night’s episode.
During the episode we learned that Maci hasn’t completely shut the door to a reconciliation between Ryan and Bentley.
It’s just that Bentley wants Ryan to go to therapy first — something that he’s apparently unwilling to do.
Jen said she also feels that her son could benefit from regular counseling sessions, as long as he’s "honest” with his therapist and explains “what has been happening all these years.”
(She seems to be referring to Ryan’s drug addiction, which has landed him behind bars several times.)
Jen claimed that Ryan is completely “on board” with going to therapy if that’s what Bentley wants — though he seemed cynical about the benefits of seeing a counselor elsewhere in the episode.
“I think he feels defeated,” Jen said.
“I understand Ryan more now than I have ever understood him before about how important it is for him to focus on what he has and just get away from those triggers because we’ve been to the counseling … and the triggers are across the river,” Larry chimed in.
And who’s across the river?
You guessed it — Maci Bookout, who’s somehow being cast in the villain role despite her many years of tolerating Ryan’s BS.
“If Ryan is going to have a healthy life, then he needs to separate him from that,” Larry continued.
“We were putting a lot of pressure on Ryan all the time.”
Yes, Ryan’s parents believe that they shoulder some of the blame for Ryan’s addictions because they put too much pressure on them.
And maybe they do — that’s for them to determine.
What’s unfair is that they’ve also assigned blame to Maci, who is unable to defend herself.
“I probably pushed him harder,” Jen confessed during the episode.
"We were wrong, Ryan. We apologize,” Larry said.
“I feel sorry for Bentley that he has to grow up like that," he added.
It’s great that Ryan has such supportive parents, but it’s really not fair of them to decide who is to blame for Ryan’s erratic behavior (everyone except Ryan, it seems), and it’s certainly not fair of them to point the finger at Maci.
For years, Maci has fought to keep Ryan in Bentley’s life despite all manner of troubling behavior, because she strongly believes in the importance of a boy’s relationship with his father.
Now that she’s finally had enough, Ryan’s parents are claiming she was at fault the whole time?!
Maybe Jen and Larry should see a therapist, as well.
And they should begin by admitting that they’ll never stop making excuses for their son.