Maya Gets Tough

Maya Gets Tough

Synopsis
When Kaylie is grounded by Maya, she is prevented from attending a Dance recital; This causes Kaylie to blow up at her aunt and say, "I Hate You!" The incident forces Maya to recall the memory of when her father grounded her for the similar incident.

Plot
When Kaylie fails to call to inform home that she was going to be late, Maya freaks out and grounds her. This causes Kaylie to get angry at her aunt. Maya couldn't stand having Kaylie hate her forever. While Lucy and Gordon are in agreement that Kaylie should've called if she was going to be late, Lucy questions why Maya's blaming herself. Maya says it all started when she tried to be “Ms. Discipline”, and then explains that grounding Kaylie reminded her of when Gordon grounded her years ago when she came home past curfew without calling. Gordon explains his side of the story. He was worried sick about Maya's whereabouts, and she failed to call home to let him know she was going to be late. Gordon and Maya had a big fight and Gordon grounded Maya on the spot for three reasons; she failed to call home and inform her father that she was going to be home late, for coming home past curfew, and for being disrespectful to him. Maya screamed at her father that she hated him and stormed out of the house.

Gordon comforts his youngest daughter and hugs her. Lucy feels a little sorry for Maya, but says that almost every family has their fights, adding that even Sydney and Maxine (from the Fabulous Jenkins Girls) had them. Lucy adds that the love and fun go together with the responsibility and discipline. She tells her sister that even today, she took her father's side over what happened years ago. Maya failed to come home by curfew and failed to inform her father that she was going to be late. Gordon was worried sick about Maya's whereabouts. Lucy says that their father did the right thing as Maya deserved to be grounded. Lucy believes that what happened between Maya and Kaylie had helped her understand of their father's actions years ago. Maya tells her father that she finally understood of why he grounded her. She apologizes to him for failing to call home, for yelling at him, and making him worry. He tells her that she did the right and Kaylie deserves to be grounded, like Maya deserved the same punishment years ago.

Kaylie is sitting on her bed when Maya knocks on the door for a talk. Kaylie doesn't want anything to do with her aunt, but Maya decides to talk to her anyway. She reminds her that they have been great buddies, but when she and Lucy were awarded guardianship to Kaylie and Maya became more "parent-like" that changed. She revealed her reason for grounding her. Maya told her niece that when she did not know where she was, she was scared to death that something bad might have happened to her. Maya tells Kaylie that she did the same thing to her father years ago. She came home past curfew and failed to call home to inform her father that she was going to be late. Maya and her father had a big blow out and she was grounded on the spot, which led to Maya storming out of the house in anger, which upset her father. Maya admits now that upsetting her father was her biggest regret and she wasn't proud of it. Even though she and her dad patched things up. The whole situation between both Maya and Kaylie had made Maya finally have a better understanding of why her dad grounded her. Kaylie apologizes for blowing off steam at her. They give each other a hug. She agrees to let her participate in the Dance Recital, moving her punishment to next weekend. As she is about to leave, she tells him that she had plans for that weekend, though they both know that she wasn't about to let her pull another fast one.