Wow. To me, it seems as if stepmom is making a very reasonable effort here. Most noncustodial parents do not have that much phone contact with their children, and the fact that she is trying to keep up with this much contact and keep the peace is commendable.
I for one certainly do not expect to be able to talk to my child on demand whenever I call if she is with mom. I wouldn't expect her to leave the dinner table to talk to me. It would be absurd of me, not to mention fairly selfish, to expect mom to drop whatever she is doing with daughter to talk to me right then and there, if returning my call an hour later would be more convenient (outside of rare emergencies). And I think it can be unnecessarily restrictive to spell out specific days and times. Heaven forbid kiddo can't participate in extracurricular activities, visit friends, etc., because he has to wait to see if mom is going to call at 7:30. There can surely be a balance. Stepmom seems to have been trying to find that, and mom has taken it to a much more personal level.

