My wife has a niece who's a single mother and she's never been very good at it, to say the least. She has an acute medical problem and has been in an ICU for several weeks now with a very poor chance of surviving it. Even if she survives it, she'll likely never be able to function normally again.
She has a 16 yo son who's never had a father. Most likely, he'll be living with his mid-50's grandmother whether his mom survives or not.
Granny is a widow who knows how things are done. She's twice the man that mom ever could be and I think she'd be good for the boy. He'll learn how to remodel a house among other things. Granny knows how to swing a hammer and crank a wrench. He'll also encounter the wrath of Granny if he ever touches a drug and that's something you don't want to encounter.
