His mother knows the child is coming over, and yet she leaves ashtrays all over the house. To be fair, she doesn't smoke, and the ashtrays are clean. The problem with the ashtrays is that Jeaneane, that's the child's father's mother's name, loves her ashtrays. She collects them and would be devastated if the child broke them. She'd probably be unfairly angry at the three year old. Sure, a three year old should learn to respect the belongings of others. But at three, she'll make mistakes, and needs a reasonable, understanding response.
His mother is not reasonable and understanding when it comes to the ashtrays she displays. She doesn't keep her favorites locked away. That would defeat the purpose.
The Louvre keeps the Mona Lisa behind bulletproof, UV resistant glass in a climate controlled display case. If his mother were in charge of the Louvre, she'd put the Mona Lisa on the front door so that everyone could see that this was the best piece. And she'd leave it out so that they could be in the presence of it more personally. And then she'd be surprised and upset if and when it got hurt.
She didn't have any real sense about guarding one's favorite things, and that was nice in one way, but it was not nice in the way that... she had no chill. Zero chill. She was like Macbeth. She wore her heart on her sleeve and simply could not refrain from expressing her feelings exactly as strongly as she had them.