Slap Happy Granny

Dear Shifra,
This weekend my wife's Grandmother slapped her son (my father-in-law). The disagreement started over the grandmother's treatment of my mother-in-law in which my father-in-law intervened in favor of my mother-in-law. The slap came when 'grandmother' and father-in-law sat down to discussion some of the things that have been bothering mother-in-law, and father-in-law caught 'grandmother' in a lie and pointed it out to her.

What is the best way to deal with this situation?
-Son-in-law of a Son-in-law

Dear SIL of a SIL,

There are just a few too many relatives in that little paragraph so let me try and sort this out…

So basically your wife’s mom and dad are having trouble with his mother, who went ahead and slapped him in the heat of an argument?

Hmmmm….
This is a tough one because it involves an old lady, and I’m inclined to cut old ladies a lot of slack. Still you can’t go around lying and slapping people so it’s a tough call.
My first thought is that you and your wife should probably stay out of it. This is really between your father-in-law and his mother. I don’t know what Granny was like in her younger days but it’s possible that her mind is failing somewhat leaving her feeling agitated (I personally live in fear of what my own mother-in-law will be like as an old woman since she’s such a delight now.)
If Granny has had a bad relationship with her daughter-in-law lo these many years it’s unlikely that there is much anyone can do about it now. I guess the best your father-in-law can do is to let his mother know how he feels about the way she is treating his wife and keep an arm’s length away from her when ever the conversation starts turning into an argument.
Now I’ll turn you over to the readers- any advice?