So he would keep the boy away from her.
Motherhood sometime can be a scary business because most mothers are afraid of failing their offspring. Usually it is the responsibility of the mothers to care for the children, Even though she doesn't stay at home with them, society will point fingers on her if her children are not what everybody consider a success. The burden of that responsibility can be frightening. Especially when people expect the world from you.
Most women would have been ecstatic to have a family like hers. From the beginning till the end of the story, the husband and the child are described as very devoted and understanding of her "the husband was durable, receptive, gentle and attuned to her", and the child was described as " a tender golden three". But she didn't see all that. Au contraire, "the sight of her husband and child made her so sick that she didn't want to see them again". Seeing them happy and laughing made her uncomfortable because she felt guilty of not wanting to play her role of the caretaker. At her time, she would have been portrait as a bad mother and a failure. She didn't want to disappoint everybody so she feck her sickness; stuffed herself with sleeping pill so she would ease her guilt. She felt like her husband didn't understand how hard it was to care for a child. He seemed to have it so easy that she became ashamed. That shame of not enjoying her motherhood made her prisoner of herself.
Unfortunately, all these attempt to make her point, turned out to be failures as well. She even agreed to hire a nanny so the world would see that she wasn't the only one no being able to care for a child. That didn't work " the girl was dynamic, young and employed her thousands energies". The girl did everything with joy and loved the boy very much. That upset her even more. She tried to impersonate the girl but failed " she moved to the girl room, she was the young queen, the girl with all the energies; she tried these personalities on like costumes, then discarded them".
